Salena's Gold

In the mid-1970s, Andrew Gold’s skills as a musician and an arranger were ubiquitious, appearing on some of the biggest records of the decade by artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Art Garfunkel, and James Taylor. By 1977, he had reached the Billboard Top 10 as an artist and writer with his self penned hit, “Lonely Boy.” In the mid ’80s and early ’90s, Andrew’s song “Thank You For Being A Friend” was used as the theme for the hugely successful NBC-TV sitcom The Golden Girls. From 1992–1999, Andrew was the TV theme voice of the Paul Reiser—Helen Hunt comedy starrer Mad About You and in 2019, Andrew’s “Spooky Scary Skeletons” found new life thanks to a viral dance craze on TikTok that has reached over 250 million people!

So Long Celeste is the debut solo album by German singer Marian Gold, released in 1992. Included on the album were cover versions of "The Shape of Things to Come" (originally by The Headboys) and "One Step Behind You" (by Furniture). Marian Gold is a German singer-songwriter who gained fame as the lead singer of the German synth-pop recording act Alphaville, but also had recorded as a solo artist.

Gold assembled a handful of knowns and unknowns to make special cameos on this melodic and fun collection of original and classic Halloween tunes with a pop-rock bent. Among the haunted are David Cassidy, Karla Bonoff, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Bishop, Nicolette Larson, and Gold's children and wife. From the Beatlesesque touches of "It Must Be Halloween" (parts seemingly lifted from "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite") to Boris Karloff's "Monster Mash" and "The Addams Family" theme song, Gold and company offer up treats that kids and their parents will like, including the "Ghostbusters" theme. But with cooler original fare like "The Creature from the Tub" and "Spooky, Scary Skeletons," you have to wonder why they relied on so many predictable cover songs.

During this time, Stewart became an excellent songwriter in his own right, penning (or co-penning) a number of tunes here, including the transcendent "Maggie May" and the surging "Every Picture Tells a Story." More extensive than 1976's THE BEST OF ROD STEWART and slightly outshining '92's THE MERCURY ANTHOLOGY, GOLD is ideal for anyone seeking a thorough sampler of Stewart's early solo work…