Sometimes cover art tries to convey the feeling of the music on an album or represent ideas contained in its lyrics. And then sometimes it’s Joe Friday on Dragnet: “Just the facts.”
Greg Kihn’s self-titled debut takes the latter approach. On the front we find young Mr. Kihn standing in front of a bulletin board plastered with band flyers outside Berkeley’s Ripped Records, looking like a slightly overdressed record store clerk—which is exactly what he was at the time. On the back, we get an overhead black and white shot of singer-songwriter-guitarist Kihn rehearsing with bandmates Larry Lynch (drums/vocals) and Steve Wright (bass/vocals), all three looking like weekend warriors slugging it out in the rock and roll trenches.
Again: on the nose.
Three-quarters of the Greg Kihn Band of the future was present in Wright, Lynch, and guesting guitarist/keyboardist Gary Phillips (who would join on keys after Glass House Rock), not to mention Beserkley house producer Matthew King Kaufman, who would end up manning the boards for their entire nine-album run on the label (often in tandem with Glen Kolotkin). In addition, label mate Robbie Dunbar sat in on lead guitar for this album before opting to stick with his main gig with fellow Beserkley group Earth Quake. (In a nice bit of symmetry, today Lynch and Dunbar are the driving force behind the retrophile, Kihn-covering Bay Area group Faves.)
The first thing a fan of “Breakup Song”/”Jeopardy”-era Greg Kihn will notice on this self-titled debut is the difference in sound. At this stage in his musical development, Kihn had barely graduated from playing solo acoustic coffeehouse gigs, and it shows. The harmonies are there, but the acoustic-focused sound is more Simon & Garfunkel than Buddy Holly—most of the time, anyway. (Wait, we’ll get there.)
Side One creates a certain set of expectations and proceeds to fulfill them. Kickoff cut “Don’t Expect To Be Right” leans heavily on Kihn’s 12-string rhythm guitar, generating a bright Laurel Canyon-esque soft rock sound featuring nice harmony vocal work by Wright and Lynch, good energy, a minimum of electric guitar and no keys. “Any Other Woman” continues in that vein, feeling like a lost Buffalo Springfield number, other than the channeling-Roger-McGuinn guitar solo.
They go pure folk-rock with “Emily Davison,” other than the cheesy synth wash backing Kihn’s 12-string guitar; the whole thing feels dated and a bit stiff. The next track—Norman Des Rosier’s “Try Try To Fall In Love,” contemporaneously covered by both Rick Nelson and Sammy Hagar(!)—is “Emily Davison” on steroids, grasping too hard for a melodramatic feel with an even cheesier synth wash in the background. The side closes with “Kid From Louieville,” a subdued acoustic number brightened only by a hint of jangle.
All of the above makes for a startling moment when you drop the needle on Side Two and hear “Worse Or Better” come roaring out of your speakers. The Kihn original is the first and only song on this debut that sounds like the Greg Kihn Band the world would come to know, setting urgent, hooky guitars-and-harmonies rock over a galloping rhythm section, culminating in a tight, fiery electric guitar solo.
…and then we’re back. Kihn’s cover of The Impressions’ “He Will Break Your Heart”—co-written by Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield—is easygoing and sincere while favoring the 12-strings over the groove. “What Goes On” is a strong, rhythmic folk-rock number played with genuine urgency, and the only song here that approaches the impact of “Worse Or Better.” The unfortunate “Satisfied” is the first of Kihn’s many (many) flirtations with reggae; they never really work, but you can’t fault his enthusiasm. And then the album closes with “Why Don’t You Try Me,” another r&b cover; in this rendering, it’s strummy folk-rock with layered acoustics, jangly 12-strings, and a typical-for-Kihn self-deprecating lyric.
Greg Kihn showcases a lot of strengths—solid originals, strong vocal harmonies, and a versatile rhythm section—but never really gets out of second gear, other than on “Worse Or Better,” which heralded the direction Kihn would soon take toward a more muscular power-pop sound. The rest of this album is sometimes-workmanlike, sometimes-labored folk-rock with only occasional flashes of the fire that would become the Greg Kihn Band’s calling card in concert, and ultimately, in the charts.