This one has been requested many times here; GLEN BURTNICK‘s second solo album 1987’s “Heroes & Zeros”. But we have a special feature at 0dayrox: the Limited Edition version of the album later remastered & released by Burtnick himself since the original A&M CD was out of print.
Only available via his website for a short time, this “Heroes & Zeros Limited Edition” features different cover artwork / photo and two additional tracks previously unreleased.
The CD is factory silver pressed, has no barcode, no label, no catalog number, or other identifying information except for “11.17.62 productions”, but believe me, the remastered sound quality is greater than the original.
“Heroes & Zeros Limited Edition” is first class ’80s melodic Hi-Tech, radio-friendly pop-rock lite AOR plenty of wonderful melodies and Burtnick’s class songwriting. Co-produced with David Prater (of Firehouse, Dream Theater fame, etc) the album sports a pristine sound quality and perfect mix, with talented musicians involved including Journey’s Neal Schon on guitar.
And 0dayrox always give you more from our archives: as extra we added Burtnick’s rare promo-only song ‘Face in the Mirror’ used in a series of TV commercials for Philishave electric shavers in the 1990s, and ‘Some Kind Of Day’, his contribution for the 1986 ‘Armed And Dangerous’ movie soundtrack, a song only appeared there.
“Heroes & Zeros” is truly an unappreciated gem of the late 80s. Gone are almost all the synths of the previous album Talking in Code, in favor of more guitar and vocal presence.
There’s great songwriting and arrangements on display; the backing vocals were used to enhance entire stanzas rather than just the main words of the refrain. Just listen to “The Day Your Ship Gets Thru” as example, not your typical ’87 pop-rock tune.
Or ‘Love Goes On’, which is different from the rest of the songs.
The upbeat ‘Follow You’ did respectably well in the charts, peaked at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100. ‘Spinning my Wheels’ has a very dynamic songwriting and performance with astounding depth; and ‘Walls Come Down’ is New Jersey storytelling at its best.
A favorite track is the hook-laden ‘Abalene’ to which Neal Schon of Journey contributes one of his classic solos as he does elsewhere on the album.
GLEN BURTNICK – Heroes & Zeros [Burtnick remaster self-released Limited Edition + extra tracks] *0dayrox Exclusive* back cover
There were other two tracks recorded during those studio sessions that didn’t make the cut – “Brooklyn Lullabye” and the ballad “Palm Of My Hand”, which curiously over the years resulted leaked-underground-internet and became requested by fans almost every time Burtnick perform live.
And that’s why he added these two songs on this “Heroes & Zeros Limited Edition” own release.
‘Palm of My Hand’ is very powerful and atmospheric while having that trademark Burtnick sound all over it. ‘Brooklyn Lullabye’, meanwhile, kicks down fairly hard and is quite like Glen’s harder work on Styx’s “Edge of the Century” release.
So this is it; the only remastered version of “Heroes & Zeros” available (but out of print).
01 – Follow You
02 – Spinning My Wheels
03 – Walls Came Down
04 – Stupid Boys (Suckers For Love)
05 – Love Goes On
06 – Heard It On The Radio
07 – Abalene
08 – Here Comes Sally
09 – Scattered
10 – Palm Of My Hand (bonus track)*
11 – Brooklyn Lullabye (bonus track)*
12 – The Day Your Ship Gets Thru
* Previously Unreleased
0dayrox extras / rarities:
13 – Face In The Mirror (Philishave Song)
14 – Some Kind Of Day (Armed And Dangerous OST)
Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion – Glen Burtnick
Guitar – Doug Worthington, Neal Schon
Bass – Buddy Allen
Drums – Anton Fig
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – David Prater
Keyboards, Accordion – Bruce Hornsby
Keyboards – Plinky Giglio
Finger Snaps – Niko Bolas
Harmonica – Southside Johnny
Backing Vocals – Bob Burger, Britt Savage, Shelly Thompson
Remastered by Alan Douches