Essentially a side project for in the wake of his tour with in support of (1980), made their self-titled album debut in 1981, a few months before the release of . The band's lineup is listed as (vocals), (guitar), (bass), (keyboards), (keyboards), and (drums) -- all from the same Minneapolis music scene as -- though reportedly all the music heard on was performed by with the exception of the vocals and a couple synthesizer solos. Moreover, wrote all but one of the songs. None of this information is evident in the liner notes, however (at least not on the initial edition), as the only sign of 's involvement is a production credit for , one of his pseudonyms. The origin of -- and subsequently -- came about because was a prolific artist and his record label, , recognizing this, gave him its contractual blessing to create side projects. This worked out well for since he was able to release music in addition to his proper solo recordings, and he would have himself an opening band for his tours. may have not written or performed the music on their self-titled debut, but they were fully capable of performing it live on-stage as 's opening act. Far from a bunch of stage actors, was actually a talented bunch: would prove himself a charismatic frontman and had previously co-written for ; would develop as a virtuosic guitarist; and most accomplished of all, and would become a first-rate production duo, helming 's in 1986, among many other projects. As for the album itself, is short on material, featuring only six songs, a couple of them quite slight, but there are a few truly fantastic songs here on a par with 's best work of the era, namely all extended synth-funk jams in the eight-to-ten-minute range. Successive albums by would be more typical of the band itself, yet is no less noteworthy for the lack of the band's involvement; in fact, this debut release is especially noteworthy for fans enamored of his -era output, for the music here feels like a session of outtakes as sung by . ~ Jason Birchmeier