Twenty Twenty Self-Titled Debut (CD) 35th Anniversary Edition, Ltd. Ed. Trading Card #5

• 35th Anniversary Edition
• Includes Limited Edition Trading Card #5
• Produced by Billy Smiley of Whiteheart
• Completely Remastered from Original Sources
• Includes Limited Edition Trading Card with Silver Foil
• First Time Ever on CD
• Superb Art-Rock like STYX or Kansas
• Originally Released in 1985

Lets just get one thing out of the way... can we?

In the 80's We Bought It Cause It Looked Cool

Remember when we use to buy albums because of the way the cover art grabbed you?  No, it wasn't 'just you' that did that, we all bought albums that looked cool, hoping that the music was just as good as the cover.

Well, the cover of Twenty Twenty’s 1985 self-titled debut makes promises. The hair. The lasers. The futuristic band name and when you played it they make good on their uber-’80s promises. Opener on the self-titled “You Are So True” shows off the band’s hi-tech sound big time. Leading with a new wave keyboard line, the song very easily erupts into a definitively ’80s blend of synthesizer melodies and electronic drums. Guitarist Roscoe Meek even adds heroic chugging guitar lines to the mix.  But where this album gets really fun is when keyboardist and Twenty Twenty’s go-to arranger Earnie Chaney let’s loose on synclavier and unleashes rapid-fire synth lines. “Security Code” and “War Games” are paired together at the front end of the album and cloak mentions of Heaven in ’80s concepts of technology. Twenty Twenty's music is hi-tech, and considering it was 1985, there's a lot of electronic percussion a la Simmons and Linn drums, and vocoder blasts throughout. 

My favorite verse from “Security Code” may be “Alternating and circuit-breaking/ That will never do/ You might think your life’s in sync/ It’s time to troubleshoot” before heading into the chorus that seemingly tells the listener to enter in their security code to the afterlife. On the flip side, “Danger Zone” continues the keyboard mania but not before opening on Meek’s most righteous guitar line on the entire album, a blend of Cheap Trick’s “Mighty Wings” with a dash of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone.” The song 'He's Still There', will bring to mind all those good vibes you felt the first time you heard the Allies debut album. 

Billy Smiley of Whiteheart

The band was certainly in good company for their debut self-titled Twenty Twenty (1985) on Benson/PowerDisc, recorded in Nashville with marathon engineer Brent King (the so-called “Karate Man” who seems to have worked with everyone from Reba to Keith Urban) and fellow Christian band Whiteheart’s Billy Smiley, making Twenty Twenty seem more and more like a proper synthesizer-led stadium rock band.