Dan Hill “Longer Fuse”

I’m in the North Woods, still no internet up here, breakfast at a place that still uses a cash register. The cabin I’ve rented has an old hi-fi, but the LP selection is dismal (90% Christmas, 10% water-damaged), so I headed out to an antique store and picked up some interesting looking records—focusing on artists I know nothing about. This one, a 1977 album, “Longer Fuse” is by Dan Hill. Named after, I’m assuming, that joke from the 1975 movie, Jaws (“You’re gonna need a longer fuse!”)—I also liked it for the cover (and knowing nothing about it). For context, that’s the year Steely Dan’s “Aja” came out (which provides no context, really, but I’m just curious if there was any confusion, since Dan Hill is also (presumably) known as “Dan.” (Coincidentally, two other “Dans” also released records that year [both, coincidentally, focused on the theme of “oral sex”]—Dan Fogelberg’s “Nether Lands,” and England Dan & John Ford Coley’s “Dowdy Ferry Road.”) The reason I was drawn to the cover is because the photo of (I assume) Dan Hill reminds me of a guy we used to call “The Yogurt Man” who frequented my record store in Ohio (this was 1981). Called that because he ate yogurt—it occurs to me, now, that it wasn’t very nice (but are nicknames, really, ever very nice?) It occurs to me now that the ribbing was misplaced; what we were really picking on was the quart-sized container of Dannon “Vanilla” yogurt, which is, let’s face it, pretty gross (and if you accidentally buy the “nonfat” version, entirely inedible!) Anyway, seeing how that was 1981, and this record came out in 1977, it’s possible we might have populated our miscellaneous bins with a copy of this—and an even more unlikely possibly is that the “Yogurt Man” was none other than Dan Hill!

Upon closer examination, however, that’s unlikely, because the first thing evident upon touching the Victrola’s needle to vinyl is that this was a hit record! The first song, “Sometimes When We Touch” is immediately recognizable as a major, late-Seventies, Casey Kasem. I didn’t recognize the song title, but the song came right back to me like an emotional trauma. I’m just kidding, it’s not that bad, but there’s no going back once you burn a song like that into the ol’ gray matter. The rest of the record doesn’t ring any similar bells, so I’m able to listen to it as if for the first time (well, it probably is the first time, actually!) Emotional singer-songwriter fare, lyric-heavy, love songs, some politics, some anguish, some joy. He’s a good songwriter and an excellent singer. Interesting… reading over the credits (the LP folds out with lyrics and etc.) I noticed that “Sometimes When We Touch” is co-written by Barry Mann (is it that Barry Mann?) Is it possible that the guy who co-wrote “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” is responsible for the earworm in question? Also, the credits indicate that Dan Hill is Canadian (which is neither here nor there, though I suppose you could say, rather than here… Canada). On the back cover he’s standing (wearing the same green and white striped shirt as on the cover—I love when people do that) in front of some architectural monstrosity. That, and the oppressive hazy-green hue evokes an “under the sea” vibe. One last thing (I’m already going on way too long [North Woods])—the album cover font makes me think of the “Foreigner” (band) font—that band was committed to running that font into the ground! And it occurs to me, that also in 1977, I saw Foreigner, live, in Bowling Green, Ohio (opening for the Doobie Brothers), so I wonder, considering the hit song, if Dan Hill toured, and if I was this far from seeing him?

I really hate to do this (to the reader —Ha! —what reader?) but I feel like I have to come clean. It’s true that when I saw this record in the store, I thought, that’s interesting, there’s someone I never heard of, so, nice, I can have an open mind, and see what’s there. Then, when I got home, I realized I already had this record! And when I listened to it, I had the vaguest flashback of seeing it in the store, the first time, and thinking: There’s someone I never heard of!—and when I listened to that song, “Sometimes When We Touch,” I realized, Oh, that’s that hit song from sometime in the past (high school years) that I’ll never be able to forget! So my apologies to Dan Hill (and to the Yogurt Man, if he’s still around) for the mix-up. At least I’ve had the excuse to listen to this record a few times, and now it’s growing on me, mostly because of his intensely involved lyrics and forceful singing, which for me, elevates it from other similar soft-rock pop, which it is, production-wise. My favorite songs are “14 Today” (again, the singing, and lyrics), “McCarthy’s Day” (about his, I believe, multiracial parents, dealing with racism), “Jean,” and “Southern California” (the singing on that one—he really goes for it). Sounds good, here at home. There is no Victrola. Well… there is part of me that just wishes there was no internet—and I’d have to approach every record at “face value”—just on what I’m hearing (and the cover, of course). And then, besides that, you’d need to have knowledgeable friends. Of course, there’d be the library, as well—though, that microfiche was always a pain to deal with. And now the library is where people go to use the internet. And, of course, the internet’s everywhere, now, even in the north woods. I think—I don’t really know—I’m not really in the north woods. I’m still back in town. Also, I don’t think there really is a place called the north woods.

8.16.24