April Wine - Power Plays (Live Radio Broadcasts 1981-1982)
CD 1
Recorded Live At The Aladdin Theatre, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 27, 1981 (WBCN 104.1 FM Broadcast)
1. Brian Greenway Broadcast Interview 01:01
2. Oowatanite 04:24
3. Future Tense / Crash and Burn 08:27
4. Before The Dawn 06:01
5. All Over Town 05:06
6. Big City Girls 04:25
7. Ladies Man 05:28
8. Sign Of The Gypsy Queen 06:20
9. Just Between You And Me 03:43
10. 21st Century Schizoid Man 05:33
11. I Like To Rock 09:41
12. Wanna Rock 02:31
13. Roller 04:28
CD 2
Recorded live at the Kansas Coliseum, Wichita 1982 (King Biscuit Flower Hour Radio Show)
1. Anything You Want, You Got It 06:57
2. Future Tense 04:19
3. Crash & Burn 03:51
4. Before The Dawn 04:40
5. Waiting On A Miracle 05:03
6. Enough Is Enough 04:23
7. If You See Kay 04:33
8. Just Between You And Me 03:53
9. Sign Of The Gypsy Queen 06:44
10. 21st Century Schizoid Man 05:12
11. I Like To Rock 03:15
12. Roller 04:40
13. Oowatanite 04:27
14. All Over Town 03:22
Myles Goodwyn - vocals, guitar
Steve Lang - bass
Jerry Mercer – drums
Brian Greenway - guitar
Gary Moffett – guitar
Las Vegas 1981
April Wine began in late 1969 in Waverley, Nova Scotia (a suburb of Halifax). The band's name was chosen simply because members thought the two words sounded good together.
The original members were brothers David Henman on guitar and Ritchie Henman on drums.
Their cousin Jim Henman joined in on bass and Myles Goodwyn completed the sound on lead vocals and guitar. In early 1970 the band relocated to Montreal. Shortly after arriving in their new home the band was signed by Aquarius Records. They recorded and released their debut album April Wine in September 1971. The album spawned their first single, "Fast Train", which received fairly steady airplay on radio stations across Canada and established Myles Goodwyn as the band's main songwriter. The single's success led the band's label to ask for a second album amid the first of many lineup changes: Jim Henman left the band in the fall of 1971 and was replaced by Jim Clench.
April Wine's first decade had seen the band go from Canadian success to international recognition, and expectations were high following the success of 1979's Harder ... Faster. The Nature of the Beast was released in January 1981, and riding on the popularity of the smash hit singles "Just Between You and Me" and the band's cover of the Lorence Hud song "Sign of the Gypsy Queen", the album hit multi-platinum success back home in Canada, and was the first April Wine album to reach platinum status internationally as well.
This radio Broadcast with interview with Brian Greenway on CD 1 shows the band at their peak with a phenomenal show at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas.
April Wine embarked on an extensive support tour that saw them playing to their largest crowds ever. Following the The Nature of the Beast tour, the band went on an eighteen-month hiatus.
Kansas 1982
Now they were the first group to have a platinum album in Canada, and the first to launch a tour that grossed over $1 million. This recording, you listen to on CD 2, captured by the King Biscuit Flower Hour, was made while the band was promoting Power Play, their last album to have any substantial chart activity. With this great live performance, April Wine proved their artistic abilities to entertain a large audience.
The opener Anything You Want, You Got It, Future Tense are incredible. Down to the ballads Just Between You And Me and to the classics I Like To Rock To All Over Town, the band is in a superior, perfect, musically condition and performs at their highest condition.
The band sounds just as strong on the lesser known album tracks, where they were able to stretch out musically to a greater degree. Future Tense, Crash & Burn and Before The Dawn are nearly as strong as the hit singles. Second guitarist, Brian Greenway, is featured on Before The Dawn, and proved he was more than a mere back-up musician.
"If You See Kay" - go ahead, say it fast - offers a humorous diversion from the mostly earnest proceedings. The band also does a bombastic version of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man," which they had previously recorded for the Harder…Faster LP. Greenway offers up some pretty convincing vocals on this British prog rock classic, though he's no match for the original singer, Greg Lake.