He's had many names in the industry, Little Charlie, Guitar Charlie Sexton, that Guitarist From Bob Dylan's Band, or simply just Charlie Sexton. Whatever you call him, Sexton was no noob to the world of music when he released his debut solo album, Pictures For Pleasure in 1985.
The album was released when the singer / songwriter / guitarist was just sixteen years old. This came with the label of teen idol, with comparisons to David Bowie. Perhaps because of this, or on the merit of the music itself, this resulted in steady rotation and promotion on MTV, and his debut spending thirty-four weeks on the Billboard 200 album charts, peaking at number fifteen.
The lead single, Beats So Lonely, which is coincidentally the song I picked up the album for, peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, it was featured in the film, Some Kind Of Wonderful, but was not included on the soundtrack.
Playing through it, you can hear a combination of blues rock with new wave, which works well for Sexton's voice. For example, with Beats So Lonely, his gruff voice lends to the heavy rock sound. Whereas the follow-up track, Restless, with its new wave synthesizer, brings almost a Robert Tepper, No Easy Way Out, vibe. Coincidence on the latter? I don't know. They were both released in 1985, so, maybe.
What's unfortunate for Charlie Sexton was that my reference to Tepper above led me down a rabbit hole that found me discovering the Rocky IV soundtrack contributor's solo albums, reading up on them, and then getting enraptured with an article on a lawsuit over the film's script. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Sexton became background noise, with my attention focused on anything other than him.
As the album played through, I checked in mentally periodically, but never really heard anything that grabbed my attention. Because of this, I went back to other things, content to let Pictures For Pleasure play out as nothing more than background noise. Overall, it wasn't really for me. I'm hopping off the train, and won't be grabbing his latter 80's release.
Rather than immediately go on with his solo career, Sexton would instead become a popular studio musician, as well as occasionally filling in as the opening act for David Bowie. It wouldn't be until 1989 that he would release his second studio album, the self titled, Charlie Sexton. Since then, he's released a handful of additional studio albums, but appears to prefer working as a part of other established acts instead.
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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS August 14, 1982 |
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