Episode 13 — April 13, 2022
Great Buildings
Podcast
Apart From the Crowd (1981) — Great Buildings
In 2005 I discovered a song — “Hold On To Something” by a band named Great Buildings — just as my relationship was collapsing. I had about as much knowledge of the band as to why the woman I was in love with was slowly sliding back into the arms of her ex.
Suffice it to say; I wanted to “Hold On To Something.”
Fast forward 17 years, and I re-discovered the song as another relationship I was in was collapsing.
Still trying to “Hold On To Something.”
Despite my association of the song with heartbreak, I still find “Hold On To Something” one of the most wonderfully delicious pieces of ear candy — and once you hear it, so will you!
And the world working the way it does these days; it would naturally be appropriate that I have the opportunity to interview two of the three scribes behind this amazing song — Danny Wilde and Phil Solem (Ian Ainsworth was absent).
The song is the first track from Great Buildings 1981 Columbia Records release Apart from the Crowd. The album had the ripple effect of dropping a pebble in the ocean upon its release. But it didn’t phase them at all.
They soldiered on until … (no spoilers).
After Great Buildings broke up, Wilde and Solem, as The Rembrandts, would make considerable waves around the globe with their hit (and Friends theme song) “I’ll Be There For You,” while Ainsworth would make a name for himself as a producer.
That’s right, folks — you know these guys, you don’t know this band.
And you should.
Rob was on the injured reserve list for this episode, so Danny, Phil, and I got together to talk about Apart From The Crowd. While we kept hoping Ian would pop in, he never did.
HISTORY
Danny and bass player Ian Ainsworth met while they were in The Quick, a band that was one of LA’s most popular bands in the mid to late 70s. After releasing one album on Mercury, 1976’s Mondo Deco, the band split.
Phil and his buddies from high school, as Loose Change, hight-tailed it out of Duluth, Minnesota, for Los Angeles. I’ve been to Duluth, and I can’t blame them.
Enamored by Phil’s fancy fretwork in Loose Change, Ian and Danny doggedly pursued (or stalked, either works… it’s just that one is illegal) the guitar player to join their band.
Phil and Danny share the story behind what led to Phil’s breaking point with his high school buddies… and it’s just about as rock and roll as you can get (no spoilers).
The more I chatted with these guys, the more I realized that even though they craft great pop/pop-rock/power pop, or whatever you wanna call it, songs — there is a devilish look in their eyes. By the end of my discussion, I began to think that they had more in common with David Lee Roth than many of their contemporaries.
Should either or both ever decide to write an autobiography, I would be one of the first in line to purchase it.
As we’ve found with more than one artist this season, the success or failure of a band or an album is so often nebulous. It’s not always the label’s fault; it’s not always the artist’s fault; it’s sometimes just how the world works.
But that’s why we’re here — to help remind you that some of these albums, like Great Buildings Apart From The Crowd, are worth your time.
Danny and Phil were true champions as we tackled some technical issues initially. They kept a great sense of humor about it all.
This episode is the perfect capstone to Abandoned Album’s first season.