"The First Day of Summer" by Tony Carey

Song#:  1935
Date:  06/09/1984
Debut:  79
Peak:  33
Weeks:  11
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Carey's first album for MCA, Some Tough City, got some attention thanks to the #1 Rock track "A Fine Fine Day" (#22 Pop). He grabbed a second Pop Top 40 entry with this next single. The track wasn't quite as popular at Rock this time around and it stalled at #21. Still, the singles helped sell the album and MCA decided to invest in a follow-up. Unfortunately, none of the songs from Blue Highway could get on any chart and the album quickly disappeared, along with Carey's recording contract. He would continue to release solo albums over the years and even revive his Planet P Project ("Why Me") later in 2002.

ReduxReview:  Carey rocks it up a bit more with this terrific track. The opening is pretty awesome with the doubled-up snare, the keyboard add, and that little "Layla"-ish guitar lick. The song doesn't move too much from this setup, but it works well thanks to a good chorus melody. I actually like this better than "A Fine Fine Day." I'm surprised I didn't hook into it back in the day. It's a lost gem that needs to be dug up and enjoyed once again.

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia:  Carey also went on to produce records for several artists including Joe Cocker and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Carey moved to Germany in 1977 and he also got work there. He would co-produce albums by one of Germany's best-selling music artists, rock star Peter Maffay. Maffay's career got kicked off with his 1979 album Steppenwolf. It was a huge hit and his next LP did even better. Since then, all of his albums have reached the Top 10 with seventeen of them hitting #1. In Germany alone, Maffay has sold over 14 million records, which puts him at #2 on the list of best-selling artists in Germany. Only German artist Herbert Grönemeyer has sold more albums. (By comparison, Phil Collins places third, Madonna sixth, and Michael Jackson ninth.) In 1983, Maffay, along with a children's song writer and an author, created the character Tabaluga, a little 8 year-old green dragon who lives in Greenland (he's 8, but in human years that equates to 800). The adventures of Tabaluga were turned into books, an animated TV show, a movie, and a series of albums done by Maffay. It was the second album in that series where Carey got involved as co-producer. After its successful showing, Carey was then retained as co-producer of Maffay's next album Lange Schatten. Carey also co-wrote several of the songs included on the LP. Tabaluga did make it to the States in 1998. The TV series ran on the Fox Family channel for a few years.

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