TWO FER TUESDAY: Patty Smyth

Hello Dialophiles! The Radio Dial is getting it in under the wire with the latest TWO FER TUESDAY!!!! (Reminds me of cramming for a test back in high school several hours before class… ) Tonight the spotlight lands on singer Patty Smyth, as we listen to a track she laid down as lead vocalist of Scandal, and wrap up with a solo track from her second LP.

“Only the Young” 1984 

How did Patty and her band Scandal come to record a song so closely associated with 80s icons Journey? Well, the story here is that Journey wrote and recorded the song in ‘83 for their Frontiers LP, but decided to shelve the track. The song was then offered to Scandal, who included their version on the 1984 “The Warrior” LP, which contained Scandal’s signature tune (“Shooting at the walls of heartache, BANG BANG… I am the Warrior!”). One year later, Journey dusted off their recording and released it as a single from the Vision Quest soundtrack, taking it to US #9 on the Hot 100 in the process. 

As Scandal’s version was never released as a single, the Radio Dial proudly features it here for your listening enjoyment. Compare the two versions... Scandal's version is rather an interesting deviation from the normally heard Journey recording. 

“They’re seein’ through the promises… and all the lies they dare to tell. Is it heaven or hell? They know very well…”

 

“No Mistakes” 1992

Next up is the second single from Patty’s self-titled 1992 solo LP, which produced the monster Don Henley duet “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”.  That entire album had more of an adult contemporary lean than her 80s rock recordings with Scandal, and as such, “No Mistakes” features a relaxed, soft rock vibe and mature lyrics that only come from years of lost loves and internal reflection…

This is one of those “lost hits”… I heard it frequently on the radio twenty years ago (has it really been that long?), but not a peep out of it since then. 

“There are no mistakes now baby… we did the best we could. It takes what it takes and sometimes, It takes much more time than it should.”

In 2005, Patty and her Scandal bandmates reunited for a small well received tour of East Coast cities, but so far, no new tunage from Smyth or Scandal has materialized save for a 2011 digital download of Silent Night.  But wherever Patty and company currently are, the Radio Dial will always tune them in. Somebody’s gotta shoot at those walls of heartache, after all!