Skip to main content

The Sherbs - I Have The Skill

Take early 80s Genesis, add a tad more new wave to the sauce, drop 'em in the middle of a crocodile infested continent and you've got The Sherbs -- another great example of a late 70s band with proggy tendencies transitioning into early 80s pop.



The herky-jerky rhythm and loving dose of synthesizers in this tune is what stands out to me. I love the little arpeggios the dude throws in on the synths. It's just a smidge more prog than your typical new wave hit of '81. "I Have The Skill" hit 61 on the U.S. pop charts. Did you ever hear it on your FM station back in the day? Me neither. Why not, dude?

Singer, Daryl Braithwaite, throws in some great middle school metaphors throughout the tune. My favorite is "I am the shoreline, you are a breaker." So Aussie! But, when he gets to the end of the verse, he casts aside figurative language and gets starkly realistic with the line, "All I can say is this life that we're living is a death defying thrill." Then the chorus, "I have the skill. I have the skill!" Braithwaite imagines himself as a cyborg, awkwardly learning to cope with the challenges of human life. He has the skill. Even when life is death defying, he knows that his skills will get him through. It's part of his programming. Part of his DNA as a rock & roller. He's got the skills, mate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Trending Tracks

Sweetbottom - Shrapnel In My Ankle

Sweetbottom -  Angels of the Deep . I can provide a totally valid explanation for the existence of this record in my collection. You see, I'd been eyeing this peculiar 12" at my favorite little hole-in-the-wall record shop for about a month. It was in the $5 box. After a few weeks it finally landed in the $1 bin. For the album artwork alone, I thought, this is worth a buck. Four late-70s dudes clad in white, cotton shirts and pants, hairy chests and... white shag carpet. Sweetbottom indeed. Adding to the allure, the notes revealed that the album had been recorded at the Shade Tree Resort Studio in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin between 1977-78. Could this be like the Great Lakes version of Yacht Rock? Could I be holding some long-forgotten, Midwest soft rock obscurity? I was tempted to cheat and pull out my cellphone to Google them, but then I paused. This is $1 we're talking about. Let's take the risk and live dangerously. As I approached the register, I noted that the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen

I've always loved glam rock -- Bowie , The New York Dolls , Mott The Hoople ,  Queen , T. Rex . The flamboyant and gender-bending style. The attitude, sparkly and swagger. The first time I heard Sweet was Fox On The Run . It was my favorite song on the Dazed and Confused Soundtrack. I think it was the swirling, bubbling synthesizer that drew me in. At the time I had no idea that Sweet was a part of the 1970s glam world. Later, I found out that they sang Ballroom Blitz . That's the same band? Then, in college, I bought Action and fell in love with tunes like Lady Starlight and the title track . As I pieced together their discography (in a pre-Internet age), I noticed that the band's sound inexplicably wavered between hard rock, glam and bubble-gum pop. I could never put my finger on what Sweet was all about. I just loved a lot of their songs. This week, I picked up a copy of their 1977 album, Level Headed . The album is anything but steady (as the title would have yo...
Post a Comment
Read more