The FTTs & Me -Part 3

Continued from Part 2

FTT 11 –Shangri-La.
The first song on this album is arguably the best one. Godfrey once again gave us a glimpse of the rock he would produce in later years with his hit song “Radical Teens”. The driving rock on that song was a new step towards the unconventional, and it drove our parents mad, ha. “Here in Shangri-La” took us to Shangri-La in spirit with Sunny’s vocals & Makoto’s guitar. It also was purported to be the first ever song with all the real instruments recorded –as in real drums rather than a drum machine & real bass rather than a synthesizer. Of course, this album would not be worth mentioning with paying tribute to the smashing number “Outlaw”, which once again gave David Hungarian a snug place as one of the guitar greats. This album was released soon after the Go for the Gold letter & the Law of Love series was printed, and as such there were two very fine songs on those subjects: “Touch From Heaven” & “He’s Made Us A Family” were beautiful numbers which increased the popularity of Francesco & Hopie. Then there was the African-flavored number “Wake With the Morning Sun” which many people bounced to. Asante Sana, A Squished Banana, dudes.

FTT 12 –In The House.
I will go to heads with anybody who does not agree that this tape was THE finest FTT of the pre-CD era (which started with FTT 15). I generally rate favorite albums by the ratio of songs I like/songs I dislike, and in this album, the ratio is 12/1!!! It is nearly impossible to tell you in detail which songs I like from here, & also that would break my rules by naming them all as that would show which one I don’t like, which I won’t do. However, I must give credit to where credit is due & speak of the “greats”. I think the best song on this album would have to be “Love Our Way out of Here”. At the time of the 18th FTT, my brother & I tested the tapes to see which one had the longest straight lead break. Two songs made about even –both were played my Makoto, and one of them was this one! Hopie’s vocals also made a climax here & sealed the deal with me as my top female singer after Sylvia. Don’t you just love her scream at the end of the song? Her other great number here was “Living & Loving”, with more sweet guitar as well as some fine bass. There were 3 other songs that came right after this one and once again had lots of lead. The first was the awesome “World of Uncertainties”, with David Hungarian’s excellent work again. Would you believe it, but the first question I asked him was “How did you make your guitar sound like a horse neighing?” The next song was the beautiful “Always Here For You”& the third was the first song to be published that Makoto actually wrote; “You, My Precious Gift”, we were not disappointed. This tape was released right before on vacation we had and of course it played in the car all the way to the beach, ever time we drove around, and all the way home. And we still couldn't get enough of it! I still don’t get board of hearing it. In fact, I need to go hear it again.

FTT 13 –March On Strong.
I remember lots of female teens & YAs flipping over this tape due to the fact that good ol’ Chris Konen had a whopping three songs to hear. Those would be the excellent remix of “Give a Little”, as well as 2 great LJ songs “Take Me Now” & “I Believe in You”. As for me, the only song I remember loving at its release was “Do or Die Life”, which broke new ground in the Rap genre. Later on, I was awed by the guitar on “On Line”, and I rather enjoyed the uniqueness of “So What” & “Anticipation”. Of course Sylvia’s “Love Constraineth Me” & Hopie’s “A Love That Is Real” were beautiful & moving and well loved by me.

FTT 14 –Rhythm & Grooves.
This was the first ever all-dance album and it took the dance nights by storm. I remember when my Jett overseer brought in the tape after devotions & gave us a listen. I recall that my first thought was that I was VERY displeased with the remixes of songs I liked before –especially when the originals were rock songs. However, there were several original numbers that were very fine! Sylvia’s “Rhythm of Your Heart” was a killer! And Francesco’s “Acreditar” made me think that Portuguese songs weren’t all that bad, ha. “Cool Breeze” was an interesting song, and I seriously liked the rock sound that it had. To top it off were the two final numbers, Hopie’s “Lord Gave to Me” (which is infinitely better than the original Simon Black version from the OFM) & “All The Love”, a very cute sounding LJ song. This was the first tape that started the “Black Tape Era”, where instead of a sticker with the title & song names on it, they instead printed the text directly on a black tape with white ink. Consequently, those tapes tend to have no more text on them as it all rubs off. The tapes in this era were FTT’s 14 & 15, NF’s 1 & 2, DC 3 Eagle Bleeds, and the finest Christmas tape ever produced by TFI, Little Drummer Boy.

FTT 15 –Heartbeat.
This album was a climactic change in the Family Music scene. Why? Because it was both the last FTT ever published on tape, & the first ever published on CD! I remember when the entire home gathered together to listen to this CD all the way through. There was swaying, head banging, cheering, clapping, rapping & rocking. “Heaven Send the Rain” was a great continuation of the original techno numbers of the last FTT. “Holy Commission” was a unique Irish-flavored song with Hopie’s fine vocals. “Make It Happen” was….well….a review of all the famous personas of the time, including a billion dollar tyrannosaurus. I spent many hours carefully learning the rap portions of this song til I knew that there was no use pressing Heffner’s girls, trying to ‘Hustle’ Larry, or get help from Wacko Jacko or his dancing. “Wild Cats” was the next song and THAT was totally awesome! Driving rock, first roars in Family music (the Lions, ha ha), and some serious lead! Of course, the best song ever on this album was Hopie’s “Million Voices”, which tied with “Love Our Way Outta Here” for the longest (and coolest) lead break in Family music! “Piece of Heaven” was a very nice rock love song that is still one of the better break-up songs in the Fam. The CD ended on the right note with the driving remix of the old song “Keep From Dancing” (which combined the finest male vocalists in Japan all together in one song –Chris, Jeff, & Francesco), and the beautiful witnessing song “Heartbeat”. We knew Family music had made another jump & Heaven was just a heartbeat away!

To Be Continued……………