Detective: “Detective” (1977/2022) Vinyl Review

Detective was a late 1970s hard rock band featuring Michael Des Barres on lead vocals. You might know him from his later work with Chequered Past and Power Station, but more likely you know him from his acting work in shows like MacGyver and Melrose Place, and films like Ghoulies and The Man From Elysian Fields. The group also included Michael Monarch (the original lead guitarist of Steppenwolf) on guitar, Bobby Picket on bass, Tony Kaye (a founding member of Yes) on keyboards, and Jon Hyde on drums. The group released only two albums and a couple of singles during its brief existence. Now the band’s self-titled 1977 debut LP has been reissued for Record Store Day. It is mastered from the original analog tapes, and presented on silver vinyl. It also includes new liner notes with a brief history of the band, including how the group was signed by Jimmy Page to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label.

Side A

The album opens with “Recognition,” this song kind of easing in with some good bluesy guitar work. The vocals at first play over that, so that the focus is on the lyrics. “Everybody wants to be recognized/It doesn’t matter what you’ve done/Some people find it on a big silver screen/Some find it behind a shotgun.” And soon it kicks in. It retains that bluesy vibe, just as so much of the 1970s rock had. This song features some really good vocal work. Toward the end there is a section where the line “Recognition is what I want” is repeated. It’s a strong opening track. That’s followed by “Got Enough Love,” which kicks in almost immediately, with a great groove that certainly has a Led Zeppelin vibe. This song takes me back to my childhood, to the time when I started collecting records and cassettes. It is a whole lot of fun. Not many folks are still making music like this, and that’s a shame. This is one of the album’s best tracks.

“Grim Reaper” is an interesting one, with Michael Des Barres shouting out, “I need my innocence back,” and essentially challenging the grim reaper, challenging death, which might call to mind Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. The song features strong vocal work and a good beat, and at the end he repeats “Take me down” as the song fades out, so I’m guessing the grim reaper is victorious. The first side of the record then ends with “Nightingale,” which begins with pretty work on guitar, feeling like a lullaby. But as the song progresses, we start paying more attention to the lyrics, which are about crime and longing. “But they tell me opportunity comes just once in your life/With the till left wide open I thought the time was right/So I filled up my pockets with everything in sight.” This song goes through a few different sections, and it starts to rock when he repeats “I love you, baby” and says he’s coming back home.

Side B

The second side opens with a fun, solid rock song, “Detective Man,” its title nearly putting Detective on that list of bands who have a song sharing the group’s name. This is a lively, totally enjoyable number, another of the record’s highlights. It’s a song that feels like a good time, though the lyrics describe something other than that, giving a warning. It’s kind of a scary situation, actually. That’s followed by “Ain’t None Of Your Business,” a slower tune, in which Michael Des Barres sings, “Don’t ask me where I went last night/It ain’t none of your concern/Who I see and what I do” and “Sticking your nose where it ain’t wanted/Ain’t none of your business, never you mind.” Remember the days before the internet when privacy was valued? Now we want feedback from strangers on everything from what we made for breakfast to where we are planning our vacations, and we don’t mind having our every move tracked. Hell, take me back to the 1970s. This song is aimed at one person, but I think these days we can sing it to the world at large.

“Deep Down” is another slow tune that begins with some good, expressive guitar work in the blues realm. It does stray into somewhat cheesier territory, but is still enjoyable. This is the album’s only instrumental track. Things then get funky with “Wild Hot Summer Nights.” This is one of my favorite tracks, in part because it certainly feels like those great summer nights of years past, but mainly because of the lyrics, which are actually quite serious and tell of violence and corruption, making the song still relevant. So it will get you dancing, but then feeling kind of weird about dancing. “The situation, the situation is getting out of hand/Newspapers carry the story through the land.” This track also features some really good work on guitar. The album concludes with “One More Heartache,” the drums getting this one going, establishing a solid hard rock groove. It has another strong vocal performance, but for whatever reason, I grow a bit bored with this track.

Record Track List

Side A

1. Recognition
2. Got Enough Love
3. Grim Reaper
4. Nightingale

Side B

1. Detective Man
2. Ain’t None Of Your Business
3. Deep Down
4. Wild Hot Summer Nights
5. One More Heartache

This special vinyl reissue of Detective was released on April 23, 2022 through Org Music.