I had the tape of Afterburner when it was out, I was pretty young. It was definitely my coolest tape at the time. I remember it was the first time I had a tape where the artwork folded up into multiple panels. It was the ZZ Top space shuttle flying across a big panorama and before long I noticed the easter eggs: portraits of the band members and probably other stuff hidden in the clouds and mountains. It was awesome!
The synth parts always reminded me of the rhythms by Jan Hammer I was hearing on Miami Vice, which was just the coolest show. But even at that age I found it a little incongruous with the rock music. I’d love to hear a version with that stuff stripped out, but I still like the tunes on that record at any rate.
I just discovered something really interesting about Hill and Beard, they were part of a sham band that was formed to capitalize on the success of the Zombies’ “Time Of The Season,” which was released as a US single as a last ditch effort to make any money on the Odessey and Oracle LP, which had flopped initially and the Zombies had already disbanded. A shady stateside promotions group in Detroit set up an all-american band with them in it and sent them out on tour as The Zombies. Totally weird. Check it out.
