Regarded by both platinum selling pop-rock stars and metal acts as one of their biggest influences, Canadians STREETHEART leave an indelible mark in North America’s contemporary rock music, and still continues pleasing audiences to this day.As requested, here’s one of STREETHEART most celebrated records, their 1982’s self-titled LP “Streetheart“. This is the only CD release the album had until this day, appeared 1997 and only available in Canada.
Packed with hooks and catchy choruses, “Streetheart”should have propelled Streetheart into the US charts. Excellent songwriting here, with radio appeal but more consistency that most of their peers. While all “Streetheart” Lp’s are good, this one encapsulated that early ’80s vibe with memorable lyrics, melodies and vocals that uniquely give that Streetheart sound.
For the past four albums, Streetheart has been aimlessly spinning their wheels. A high-live act which, apart from a promising debut effort, has never managed to transform that energy into the surroundings of a recording studio. As a result, Streetheart has watched helplessly while the likes of Loverboy, Harlequin and Rough Trade have soared past them.
It was obviously time for a dramatic change in tactics. Their first move was to go back to their original producer George Semkiw, hoping to re-discover those lost roots. They’ve also, symbolically, titled the album simply ‘Streetheart’, no doubt signalling a fresh start.
The most important factor of this record is, that for once, they’ve taken advice from their record company: To succeed, an album needs a single or two.
Streetheart has obviously taken a hint with this album and produced two mildtempo AOR semi-ballads, ‘Look In Your Eyes’ and ‘What Kind Of Love Is This?’ which have ‘hit’ stamped all over them. The new album is a definite compromise between the hard-edged rockers that work best on stage (‘Mad As Hell’, ‘Wired’ and ‘One More Time’) with the more FM Rock oriented material.
As a result, both sides win. The energy is still there with new guitarist Jeff Neill blending in nicely, yet there’s a maturity in the material which suggests the band has finally found their potential as indication songwriters. An
which displayed a new side of Streetheart.
A really good album still sounding fresh today, something that speaks well of Semkiw’s production talents and provides firm indication that Streetheart was at their peak here. While the band never made it big, they are a Canadian Hall of Fame institution.
Highly Recommended
01 – Without Your Love
02 – Mad As Hell
03 – Miss Plaza Suite
04 – Wired
05 – What Kind Of Love Is This?
06 – Snow White
07 – Look In Your Eyes
08 – Ain’t In No Hurry
09 – One More Time
Kenny Shields – lead vocals, percussion
Jeff Neill – guitar, vocals
Darryl Gutheil – keyboards, vocals
Ken Spider Sinnaeve – bass
Herb Ego – drums