Here’s a rare ’80s album requested; BILLY CHINNOCK 1986’s “Learning To Survive In The Modern Age“. For years this album was a much sought after piece by AOR collectors. Never released on CD, when vinyl & turntables became popular again in recent time, many LP’s appeared at auction sites.
So while “Learning To Survive In The Modern Age” isn’t that rare anymore, it’s not easy to find a vinyl in fine condition. This is vinyl-rip done by team, and sound quality is pretty good.
Musically, BILLY CHINNOCK is very ‘American Rock’. Originally from the New Jersey area, Billy’s style indeed has New Jersey’s ADN. The man who discovered and/or developed Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen careers – John Henry Hammond – once described Bill Chinnock as “the real essence of American music”.
Of course, this is a 1986 album, so you’ll hear a radio friendly production, synths, ‘these drums’… you get the picture. And while the overall sound on “Learning To Survive In The Modern Age” isn’t pure AOR, fans of the genre wanted this LP especially for the song “Somewhere In The Night”.
“Somewhere In The Night” was used as the theme song for the soap ‘Search For Tomorrow’, resulting in Chinnock winning an Emmy Award in 1987. The TV Show version of the song was a re-recording in a duet with famous Roberta Flack. But on the LP there’s the original, and a really good mid-80s AOR song it is.
BILLY CHINNOCK origins saw him on various NJ bands with musicians that later became part of Springsteen’s E Street Band. On the recommendation of Columbia Records A&R chief John H. Hammond, Chinnock singed a deal with Paramount Records and released his first solo LP in 1975. He was pretty successful, releasing several albums on major labels like Atlantic.
In the late 1986 – some copies were pressed 1987 – at the time with a CBS / Epic deal – Billy Chinnock released “Learning To Survive In The Modern Age”, produced and entirely written by himself.
Numbers like Take No Prisoners, Just A Matter Of Time, Another No Win Situation alternate between rock&pop, Hi-Tech, New Jersey’s American Rock, and AOR on tracks such as Young Hearts On Fire (has some John Parr on it), Like A Hurricane, and the moderate hit Somewhere In The Night.
Chinnock died in 2007. As testimony to his outsized influence on the East Coast rock scene, major publications including The New York Times and Rolling Stone ran lengthy obituaries. In March 2010, friends and former bandmates held a tribute concert at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, where Chinnock had appeared countless times, and a second tribute show was the held the next month in Portland, Maine.
Echoing John Hammond’s comment that Chinnock was “the real essence of American music,” Bob Santelli, former vice president of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, called him “one of the unheralded greats of American rock ‘n’ roll.”
Original E Street band drummer Vini Lopez, one of Chinnock’s closest friends, said his songwriting skills and work ethic were incredible. “He had his own ideas and he always had great songs,” he said. Lopez also pointed out something that the vast majority of people – even the biggest Springsteen fans – don’t realize: “Bill was ‘the Boss’ before Bruce,” he said.
Not essential but a very pleasant listen, BILLY CHINNOCK’s “Learning To Survive In The Modern Age” is very ’80s, sure to please fans of the aforementioned John Parr, David Pack, Benjamin Orr, Jack Wagner, etc.
Highly Recommended
A1 Take No Prisoners 3:41
A2 Like A Hurricane 3:48
A3 Young Hearts On Fire 3:23
A4 Desperate Men 4:21
A5 Just A Matter Of Time 4:06
A6 Last Summer 3:51
B1 Somewhere In The Night 3:48
B2 Pretty Little Wild One 3:13
B3 Another No Win Situation 3:52
B4 The Boys On The Avenue 3:31
B5 Since You've Been Gone 3:24
Billy Chinnock – Learning To Survive In The Modern Age 1986
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