#64 Linear (+ Dimebox Dad Music Customs Series 3 set)

 

Number 64 in the '91 MusiCards set is a pop group called Linear. The awkwardly cropped photo squeezes in the three fellas who are showing off their world-class mullets and a sampling of their musical instruments.

The back pic is likely from the same photoshoot as the front, but must've been earlier seeing as they've still got their jackets on. 

Gotta admit this band doesn't ring a bell for me-- and I never watched much Miami Vice-- but they've got a modest Wikipedia entry and were a flash in the pan in 1990 with "Sending All My Love" reaching #5 in the US.

"Sending All My Love" sounds a bit familiar listening to it now, and it really hammers that chorus into your head, but doesn't really differentiate itself from the rest of the generic dance pop of the era. These guys sounds like they could have been the opening act on a New Kids On The Block tour. I actually listened to the entire debut album while writing this post. There's some terrible "boy band" stuff on there that's lost on me as a middle-aged man hearing it for the first time, but a couple "guitar forward" songs were alright.

A sophomore LP, Caught in the Middle, was released in 1992 and the lead single "T.L.C." reached #30, but petered out after that. They put out a single called "Let's Go All the Way" in 1994, but it didn't go anywhere, ironically, and that seems to have been their last release of note. While not very active these days, Linear is still together as a group according to their Wiki, though now they're a duo of "Steele" and "Riot," with "Bang" having left the fold.

CUSTOM CORNER

Changing gears, here's something from last year I haven't gotten around to posting yet. Nick from the Dimeboxes blog had facilitated another deal where I whip up a set of several custom cards of favorite musicians for his dad Mike in exchange for some set needs of mine.

Dimebox Dad Music Cards Series 3

This is the 3rd series of 18 cards (for easy paging) I've made for Mike over the years. How these sets come together is I'm sent a list with names and some info for the backs along with suggested photos to use. Then I make them into cards, with the only guideline being that he likes 70s oddballs best, so I try to keep that in mind when thinking of what design would work well with each picture. Some of these were templates I had already made, but some were cranked out specifically for this project.

I'm down with Daniel Johnston and there were a few other names I recognized or maybe knew one song they did, but the majority of these were unfamiliar to me. Fun to give a curious listen and skim the Wikipedia for them while making the cards.

"I Love You Like I Love Myself" by Herman Brood is a song I hadn't heard before that has become one of my most-played songs of the past year. Hell, I've played the song on repeat for a good chunk of time on more than one occasion. It's a really fun, heartfelt rocker from the late 70s that would fit right in on modern classic rock radio, yet refreshingly not worn out like the rest of that rotation. So thanks to Nick's dad Mike for turning me onto that, among other very cool tunes I was exposed to thanks to making these requested custom cards.

I was really happy with how the cards came out and brought them with me during my trip to Chicago last summer, hoping to hand-deliver them. Would have been great to see the look on his face when he flipped through the cards for the first time, but unfortunately we weren't able to work out a meet up while I was in Nick and Mike's neck of the woods and so I resorted to mailing them after returning home.

As with all my customs, they're not for sale but if you really want one for your collection I'm sure we could work out a trade without too much trouble.

That'll do it for this post. Thanks for stopping by and let me know in the comments if you've got any thoughts to share regarding Linear or any of the Dimebox Dad set. I'm also very curious if any of you are like me and once in a blue moon get obsessed with a song and listen to it on repeat many times in a row.. or am I just a weirdo?