Time once more to play the vinyl community’s favorite new game, Who Among Us Remembers This Guy?
Full disclosure: I sure as hell don’t.
And I haven’t found out much about him, either.
My deep dive into the vast discography of the late Christine McVie turned up this obscure oddity, an ’83 EP from cover gangster Ian McCorkle, for whom Lindsey Buckingham and Ms. McVie provided brief support vocals. Says so on the back.
On which song(s) they sang, well, that’s left for us to deduce. Best guess is leadoff cut ‘Criminal,’ seeing as 1) that was the single, accompanied by a laughably lame video (even by early MTV standards) you ought to watch on YouTube for chuckles; and 2) of this disc’s four songs it’s the only one with extra voices that don’t sound like merely doubled-up McCorkle.
Mind you, if that’s indeed where their contributions lie, they don’t amount to much. Just some quasi-melodic shouting of the pronoun ‘I’ and the tune’s title in between chorus lines indicating Ian’s intention to go crooked.
‘I hear the pay is better,’ reports the gent holding a smoking bagpipe, ‘and the hours are phenomenal.’
As opposed to, what, rock star?
I mean … I guess so?
Wasn’t gonna cut it as a rock star anyway.
Or a criminal. Not with that mullet.
Also, why does the video end in a sushi bar?
And is that Michael Des Barres at the counter?
Nah, can’t be. (Or could it?)
Never let it be said I’m less than thorough. I not only snagged this for cheap just to take a photo, but I’ve actually listened to it — thrice! I’d bother describing the rest of McCorkle’s music … if I thought any of it was remotely worth hearing.
Forget has-been; this haircut’s a never-was.
Seriously, does anyone know more about Mr. McCriminal?