Zebra and Billy Thorpe

OK, just putting it out there...two songs that I used to hear on the prog-friendly AOR stations while growing up. Any thoughts? (i.e., do they belong on this site?)

Zebra - Who's Behind the Door

Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun

As a matter of interest BILY THORPE Hails from my country(Australia) Where in the early seventies he and his band THE AZTECS had a string of hits("Most People I know Think That Im Crazy",a Pseudo gospel song,and "Mama" being two of many) and succesful albums

His style was what could be termed "HARD BLUES ROCK" long guitar breaks, pounding drums in common time

In the late seventies he went to the states and recorded THE CHILDREN OF THE SUN albums(2 i think(correct me if i am wrong please)) these were concept albums totally out of character with what he had done before dealing as they did with science fiction themes of a race searching for a new home in space THEY COULD BE TERMED "progressive" and they became quite popular in the Staes in the early 80's although almost unknown here in Australia I have heard some tracks and found them interesting especially when compared to what he did before and i would like to hearmore at some stage soon!!!!!

Zebra's guitarist/vocalist is Randy Jackson, not John Somebody.

Anyway, old Zebra's great, and new Zebra isn't half-bad. The first two albums, Zebra (1983) and No Tellin' Lies (1985) are excellent hard rock albums with seriously good guitar playing and Randy's unearthly falsetto vocal (he could really go high...in more ways than one). I've always referred to Zebra as the "American Triumph," because Zebra, like Triumph, is/was a trio, and has/had an amazing guitarist/vocalist package with an unusually good (falsetto) voice. Zebra's 1987 album, 3.V, was marred by that typically overproduced '80s sound and pretty muched sucked, except for "Making You The Fool." Zebra's a band that could have enjoyed a lot more success if it weren't for the fact their debut was roughly five or six years too late (in 1983, it was still Atlantic's fastest-selling debut, for its time).

As for Billy Thorpe, he released two concept albums, one in the late '70s, Children Of The Sun, and the second in the early '80s, 21st Century Man (he never recorded/released the 'third' album in the trilogy). CotS is the better of the two, with one side devoted to Thorpe's SF concept (the songs are great). Not quite prog, but I'd deem the material "symphonic rock." The next one has more songs continuing the storyline, and several are good, several are okay, and one additional rock & roll song (not a part of the story) was tacked on. Children Of The Sun's 1987 reissue has a bunch of different songs for the B-side, all slick and poppy (it was '86/87), and not too memorable. CotS is worth a listen, and the first five songs are seriously cool.

If you need to know for certain whether Zebra is a prog band or not: Zebra is not. If you like pre-Hemispheres Rush, and Triumph, I don't see why you wouldn't like Zebra, as they've got two albums of great rockin' music. Thorpe certainly got close, but he didn't do anything particularly groundbreaking. He's a songwriter/guitarist/singer, first. Children Of The Sun is still worth owning on CD, just for the title track. Kinda Floydish, with Thorpe's expressive vocal and lots of great synth stuff. You can find the CD online for very cheap.

James:

Oops.  Sorry if I was "quick to jump."    I don't usually do that.  Must have been a lack of sleep...

Peace.