Eddie Money – No Control
Rock Candy Records
www.rockcandyrecords.com

Rating: B+     

Eddie Money shot out of the box like a cannon a few years before with his self-titled debut, but his next two albums each sold less.  Money was in need of a hit.  As fate would have it, he would go into the studio to record No Control in physical pain due to a rehabilitating nerve disease, making the pressure even worse for him. 

Money forged ahead and changed producers, this time bring one of rock music’s best in Tom Dowd into the production booth.  Dowd and Money teamed up and created the album that would not only bring him back to the charts, it would catapult his career for the next decade. 

No Control would go on to sell triple platinum on the strength of two FM and MTV classics, the rocking “Shakin’” and the slinky pop rocker “Think I’m in Love.”  Both songs captured Money’s party attitude and featured great guitar solos by Money’s then guitar hero Jimmy Lyon.

What makes No Control a great album, besides the obvious hits, are the great album cuts including the emotional “Running Away,” the introspective “Hard Life” and the tribute to one of Eddie’s fallen friends, John Belushi, “Passing by the Graveyard (Song for John B).”

Money would go on to become one of the 1980’s biggest pop/rock stars releasing numerous hits but it was No Control that actually gave him control of his future.

By Jeb Wright