Who is Michael Anderson?

A few years back Justin Currie of Del Amitri played a small gig here in Phoenix.  Del Amitri is different from my other favorite bands.  My all time favorite band is the Who.  I can hear The Who on any classic rock radio, when I see them in concert they are playing an arena with over 10,000 people.  Some of my favorite newer bands : Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers have gotten so big they now also play arenas and huge festivals.  Even Lord Huron, my current favorite band, is constantly gaining popularity and is selling out medium size venues and has really hit it big with their song on the 13 Reasons show on Netflix.  By the way, I called "The Night We Met" the best closing song on an album ever two years ago.  Well, I am going to make the case for perhaps an even better closing song in this blog.  But back to Del Amitri, what is different is that in the states they never got huge.  They were bigger in the UK, but never huge.  Roll to Me is their one major US hit, forever and unjustly labeling them a 'one hit wonder' here in the states.  Most people don't know Del Amitri but thanks to 'Roll to Me' and a loyal fan base there are some fans here.  As obscure Del Amitri may be, they are not unheard of, you can hear many of their songs played as background music when shopping, don't get me going on this, and like I said they are still well known in the UK.  Even though Justin played a very small bar here in Phoenix there was a small but committed turnout of fans and like me they sang the words to pretty much every song.  My point being as obscure Del Amitri might be to the average music listener in the US, they have a pretty decent footprint.  I can talk about them and at least a few people will know who I am talking about.  You can find plenty of videos, old and new, and easily keep up with Justin's solo work or reissues of the great Del Amitri records.  Sometime around 1988-1989, I discovered Del Amitri and the Waking Hours album for the first time.  It was around that same time that I also heard Michael Anderson for the first time, who was coincidentally on the same label as Del Amitri, but unlike Del Amitri, I honestly do not know ANYBODY who has heard of him (outside of my college roommates who heard me play his 'tapes' nonstop at Mary Washington and a few too many ladies at Mary Washington who got a mixed tape with a couple of his songs) and there is still very little information about him both online and on YouTube.  Del Amitri, might not have gone as big they should, but 30 years later I know plenty about them and their story and music.  30 years later, I still know very little about Michael Anderson.

Sometime around 1988-1989 I was at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington, New York with my high school buddies.  We were in a Record World.  Does Record World even still exist?  Back in the days when there was at least one record shop in every mall.  CDs were not really big yet.  The front of the store was still LPs.  The back of the store was filled with the increasingly popular cassette tapes.  In the back they also had some TVs where they played music videos.  On this day they were playing Michael Anderson's "Sound Alarm."

Over the years, before Spotify, I have bought a lot of music.  Records, tapes, CDs.  However, in my almost 40 years of buying music there have been very few, minimal, cases of me hearing music at the record store and buying it on the spot.  I was in a Tower Records in Westbury when I heard Terry Garland play the blues for the first time:

I was in a Nobody Beats the Wiz in Huntington Station when I heard the amazing 6th Avenue Heartache and One Headlight and bought one of my favorite albums of all time right on the spot: Bringing Down the Horse by The Wallflowers:

Michael Anderson's Sound Alarm cassette was one of those rare cases of me doing that.  In those days I would hear music on 92.3 K-Rock in NYC or WBAB on Long Island or watch VH-1 or MTV and discover music that way, actually I am pretty sure for a teenager back then it was the only way.  But I bought the tape right on the spot.  At the time, I was in a classic rock and blues phase.  The guitars and harmonicas on this album drew me right in.  1988ish was great year of music for me.  Some of my favorite albums to this day all came out around that time: Robbie Robertson's first solo record, Del Amitri's The Waking Hours, and Michael Anderson 'Sound Alarm'.  30 years later, I have read Robbie Robertson's autobiography and seen the Last Waltz countless times, I have seen Del Amitri live 3 times and thanks to the internet can stay connected with fans and with Justin's solo career.  30 years later, I still know very little about who Michael Anderson.

The Sound Alarm record was in my opinion very blues influenced rock.  One girl who was lucky enough to get a song from this album on a mixed tape from me told me that he sounded like he was trying to be Bruce Springsteen.  I never felt that way, but I could see you putting him in the same rock genre as Bruce or a John Mellencamp.  Heading into the 1990s we entered a time in music where I feel record companies and bands took advantage of fans.  I remember in the early 1990s you could spend almost 20$ for a CD and there would only be one or two good songs on that CD.  This greed and poor project helped lead to the rise of NAPSTER and MP3s.  However, it was not like that in the late 1980s and the Sound Alarm was a perfect example of a record where every single track was awesome.  There was a lot of range and variety on the Sound Alarm record.  There was pure good old guitar and harmonica driven rock in songs like "Until You Love Me," and "Little Bit o'Love."  There was some rock history of blues and Memphis in "Memphis Radio," there was a powerful ballad "Sanctuary" and even a political track about South African Apartheid in "Soweto Soul."

Here is some awesome audio of "Until You Loved Me"

  As I mentioned earlier, Lord Huron's "The Night We Met" is probably one of the best closing tracks on a record ever.  However, Sound Alarm can give Lord Huron a run for the money.  Sound Alarm closes with an absolutely beautiful and stunning track "Time to Go Home."  Why this song has not been in countless films or on soundtracks I will never know.  There is no justice in the music world, that is for sure.  Time to Go Home paints a vivid image and both lyrically and musically is an unforgettable track that is just as powerful when you listen to it today as it was when I first heard it back in 1989 while in high school.  According to Michael Anderson himself, in an email he sent me:

I wrote "Time to Go Home" in the studio while recording the "Sound Alarm" album. It was about my father, who I hadn't seen. Right after that I did go home and see him and we re-established a relationship. It is a very emotional song for me. He died a few years after that and I was always grateful for that song pushing me to see him.

This was a record with great lyrics, raspy vocals, great guitar riffs and old fashioned harmonica.  This was a rock record.

I also noticed on the credits for "Sound Alarm" were several mentions of "The Legendary Buck Silvertone."  Years later I am not quite sure if The Legendary Buck Silvertone is actually Michael Anderson.

I was kinda of by accident that in 1990 while browsing through the tapes at Tower Records in Long Island that I saw that Michael Anderson had released a self-titled second album.  It wasn't until fairly recently thanks to YouTube that I found out there was a video for the song True Love that went with this album.

There are a number of girls who attended Mary Washington who were given a mixed tape by me where I confessed my love through lyrics and music.  I am scared that one of these days someone will find one of these tapes and my linear notes and interpretations that went with it.  Many of these tapes, and there were many, had this song.  "If True Love Were Only for the Innocent, you know I don't qualify."   "My Love is like a Sinner learning to repent."

See, back to my point about Michael Anderson and his music.  I would love to include more lyrics and videos of his songs to go along with this blog, and they simply are not out there.  I originally had both Sound Alarm and the self titled album on cassette tape.  At some point I upgraded to CD, but they are long gone.  A few years ago I found Michael Anderson's website and ordered copies of these CDs, but they don't have the lyrics and thanks to streaming I no longer have any devices that play CDs!

The self-titled album is very different from Sound Alarm.  Michael Anderson on his website I think sums it up best:

"This record was done in Los Angeles with Michael Omartian-bit more polished."

Where "Sound Alarm" was rootsy and raspy, the Michael Anderson album was absolutely more polished.  Pop is not the correct description, it was by no means a pop record, but it is a lot smoother and yes more polished.  There is only one track on the follow up that reminds me of the first album and that is "Slip Away."  Sound Alarm was raw, the follow up was polished.  Despite not having that bluesy rock style I loved so much about the first album, the self-titled album was just as good, but the sound was very different.  Listening to the first tracks of each album: Sound Alarm vs. True Love is a great way to tell how these albums were different.  Once again the lyric were great and there were a variety of songs from the epic "Let It Rain" to the moving song about the sacrifices made by our military in "Heartbeat From Glory."  There was a very jazzy film noirish track "Raymond Chandler Said" and there was a very intense "Flame in the Fire."  But, I really loved how "Slip Away" brought everything back to the Michael Anderson music I initially fell in love with.

I have had a number of articles in the Mary Washington College newspaper during my 4 years there.  Many of the articles got some heated responses both positive and negative.  But for better or worse, most of what I wrote got reaction.  I wrote a very positive review of the self-titled album for the paper and got zero response.  And unfortunately, that is a microcosm of me being a fan of Michael Anderson.  Nobody knows who I am talking about.  I noticed a tweet from a former student of mine talking about 13 Reasons and "The Night We Met."  They tweeted how I used to play Lord Huron in the classroom everyday and now everyone is finally realizing I was correct about how great a band they were.  I also once had a student write an end of the year evaluation of my class and all they wrote about was how I "was right about Mumford and Sons," another band I talk about for months all the time before they got huge.  30 years later, other than a few emails to Michael Anderson himself, there is nobody for me to talk to about this great and powerful music.  The Mary Washington article just adds to the mystery.  I have copies of just about everything I ever wrote for the Mary Washington College Bullet, and yet for some reason my review of the second Michael Anderson album is not there.  To make matters worse, just like Michael Anderson's music, I can't find this article anywhere on the Internet.

Years went by and my musical tastes changed.  The late 90's saw the Wallflowers and Matchbox 20.  The 2000s were dominated and are still dominated by Mumford and Sons, Lumineers, Avett Brothers, and Lord Huron.  The constant in this musical thread are Del Amitri and The Who.  But I always wondered about Michael Anderson.  I never heard of him touring and I never saw or heard any new music.  Well to be honest, I felt like I was the only one who was hearing his music.  Outside of that day at Record World, my car, or my dorm room at Mary Washington: I have never heard a Michael Anderson song anywhere.

With the emergence of the Internet I finally got some clues about Michael Anderson.  He has a website and I learned that he had actually written a number of songs for other artists including "Blame it on Memphis."  It also seemed he had put out a couple of Christian albums.  I also found a lone review of "Sound Alarm" ranking it the #28 Christian Album of all time.

https://greatestchristianalbums.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/28-sound-alarm-michael-anderson/

So, again adding to the mystery about Michael Anderson.  Did he become a Christian artist or was he a Christian artist all along?  Was "Sound Alarm" a Christian Rock Album and I just didn't realize it?  Was the follow-up a Christian album?  Or did he try to rock albums and then turned to Christian rock?  I really don't know.  Again let me back track a bit....

I am not a Christian.  I am a New York Jew.  I don't listen to Christian music.  I had a roommate in college who loved Michael W. Smith and DC Talk and played it in the dorm room all the time, but I tuned it out.  I would never listen to Christian music.  Again, let me back track do I really not listen to Christian rock?  If "Sound Alarm" was really a Christian Rock album that I played for years and didn't realize was a Christian Rock album it would not be the last time it happened.

In 1995 I first heard the song "Flood" by Jars of Clay.  The Jars of Clay debut album was one of my favorite CDs of the that year and of the mid-1990s.

  I must have played that CD for about a year before I realized they were a Christian Rock band.  Fast forward to 2011, I heard "Drive All Night" by Needtobreathe.  I love that band.  I bought the Reckoning, I downloaded songs from before that 2011 release, and I bought the follow-up Rivers in the Wasteland.  I have even seen them in concert.  Once again, I did not realize I was listening to a Christian Rock band.  I had no idea that Needtobreathe was Christian Rock.

  So, if those two Michael Anderson albums were Christian rock, I have a track record of listening to some Christian Rock and not realizing it is Christian Rock.  But ultimately and more importantly good music is good music: That Jars of Clay CD was awesome, NeedtoBreathe is an awesome rock band and I highly highly highly recommend their albums both past and present.  The fact that I am non-Christian and that the Michael Anderson albums may indeed be Christian Rock has no impact on how much I love those two records.  Rock, Blues influenced Rock, Christian Rock, it does not matter, great music is great music.

On Michael Anderson's website there was a book on song writing, a short bio, and a link to a 2015 gospel album:

https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michaelanderson5

According to his website the album is: " A collection of songs profoundly influenced by the Greater Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles."

There is also a link to a 2006 collection of songs called "White Trash Shakespeare."  There is a song on that collection called "Temptation (In a Little Black Dress).  Like "Slip Away" this song, to me, reminds me so much of the sound of "Sound Alarm."  This track reminds me of that bluesy rootsy raspy sound that first drew me to Michael Anderson.

What I have not found on the website, or on the internet beyond that #28 Christian Album Review (which is a very informative review), or on YouTube or really anywhere is much about Michael Anderson and those first two albums.  How did he get signed by A&M?  Was he in a previous band?  Was he big in a particular area?  I doubt A&M just handed out recorded deals, so there must be part of his musical story before 1988 that I am missing.  I know "Sound Alarm" was released in 1988 and produced by Terry Manning.  I know the follow up was released in 1990, is self-titled, and was produced by Michael Omartian.  I know both albums were released on A&M records.  I know I love both of those albums very much.  But other than that, I know so little about these great records and the artist.  In 1983, as a little kid I watched an amazing New Year's eve concert by Big Country.  Today, I can go to YouTube and watch that same concert.  When I saw Justin Currie in Phoenix a few years ago, I got to be around fellow fans and got to sing along to all these great songs we all love so much, some of which are close to 30 years old.  I remember watching a lady next to me singing along to "Move Away Jimmy Blue" with tears in her eyes.  It was an amazing moment to sing along live with Justin Currie just a few feet in front of me here in Phoenix over 25 years after I first listened to that song, on tape, driving in my car along Route 110 on Long Island as a high school senior.  I wish I could have that moment where I was at a venue surrounded by Michael Anderson fans with tears in our eyes singing along to "Time to Go Home."  I wish I could go to YouTube and find a Michael Anderson concert from 1990 and watch him perform "Flame in the Fire."

Last October I went to one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to.  It was the Lumineers, it was a fairly large venue and their was a connection between band and fans like I have never experienced.  Around 2010, I saw Mumford and Sons in a very small venue in Phoenix, just before they blew up big time.  The room held maybe 150 people and the ticket was 10$ bucks.  I remember you could feel it in the air that this band was going to blow up big time, it was electric.  I would see them less than a year later and the crowd went from 150 to 12,000.  In the six times I have been to giant stadiums to see The Who there is a magical connection between the music of The Who and myself, my brother, and my beloved uncle who passed away too soon.  I can listen to Big Country and commiserate on just how good they were, how they were screwed over in so many ways by the music industry and circumstances and how Stuart Adamson is gone too soon.  I can listen to my Del Amitri records and be grateful that I got to see them live 3x before they broke up and that there is such a strong online community of loyal fans to share our love of this band with.  I don't have any of that with Michael Anderson.  Even on Spotify there is very little presence.  There is a small website, a couple of grainy videos online, and my two burned copies of those first two albums.  I would have liked to have done a better job of selling just how good the music is on "Sound Alarm" and the self-titled album by posting lyric videos, and clips, and concert footage.  But I can't find it.  I have mentioned several times just how good "Time to Go Home" is and yet I can't find a single reference or mention of this song online anywhere!  Had I not walked into that Record World at the Walt Whitman Mall on that day or at that time would I have ever known that there was a Michael Anderson?  Would I have ever heard any of his music? How different would those mixed tapes that floated around the girls dorms at Mary Washington sounded between 1990-1994 without "Until You Loved Me" or "True Love?"

I can share my love for The Who with millions, I can share my love for Del Amitri with a small but loyal group of devoted fans on social media.  However, my love of those two Michael Anderson albums has been a solo project.