Dark Pretty Boy

Сlark Terry's 1977 studio date with an orchestra conducted by Peter Herbolzheimer might very well fall into the easy listening category were it not for his brilliant improvisations on fluegelhorn, which he plays throughout the session. Most of the material consists of classic songs that Terry was undoubtedly very familiar with by the time of this 1977 recording, including "Misty," "Willow Weep for Me," "Angel Eyes," and "Yesterdays," with the arrangements all having pretty much a low-key, late-night feeling, hence the album title. Producer Mike Hennessey co-wrote "November Song" with Willi Fruth, a ballad with swirling strings; and Herbolzheimer contributed "Clark After Dark," a tasty blues that is a good deal looser than most of the rest of the album, which also features great solos by pianist Gordon Beck and trombonist Dave Horler, as well as some great muted horn from Terry…

After racking up their biggest success to date with We're an American Band, Grand Funk Railroad decided to keep a good thing going by retaining Todd Rundgren as their producer and continuing to push their sound in a pop/rock direction.

Looking back at '80s-era heavy metal, Germany's Accept are oft-times overlooked. This can be attributed to the fact that they didn't have a pretty-boy lead singer (in fact, Udo Dirkschneider was the virtual antipretty boy) and, despite a few flirtations, never truly crossed over to the MTV masses…