SotD: Blaze, “Silver Heels”

I wrote a bit in Monday’s post about a Cincinnati band that crashed the local pop station’s year-end survey for 1982. That’s made me think about other local acts that got airplay during my middle- and high-school years (the Raisins came along with the epic “Fear Is Never Boring” early during my time in college, and I no doubt heard it frequently while home on breaks). One that stands out me to now is this funky cover of a track from the Bob Welch era of Fleetwood Mac.

I haven’t been able to track down any info about Blaze; I can’t even tell if there was an album to accompany the single. Rob Parissi of Wild Cherry fame has “additional production” credit and, according to our host on the video below, plays some guitar on it as well. “Silver Heels” peaked at #95 in a two-week run on the Hot 100 in December 76—I really wasn’t listening to FM radio at that time, so either WSAI was playing it then or Q102 was still spinning it a year or two later.

This version actually exists on CD, which I totally lucked into getting. It’s on an obscure but sweet compilation from 93 called Guilty Pleasures. I bought the CD a few years ago because it also contains “Almost Summer,” by Celebration featuring Mike Love; I was totally stoked to find that this one came along on that ride, even if it doesn’t quite sound like I remember it. I’m wondering if there was a locally-produced version that the Cincy radio stations played instead.