1978 was probably one of the more formative years for me musically. At the time I didn't really think much about it, but looking back on it, holy cow and boy howdy it was a banner year. It was the year "Baker Street" made the saxophone sexy, and the guitar solo in that song still makes me smile. It was also the year my cousin introduced me to Ted Nugent though his incendiary
Double Live Gonzo, and Prism's sophomore album
See Forever Eyes. The number of bands I waited patiently to hear songs from on the radio or at a friends was just mind boggling. I started making a list of the bands and songs that I could hardly wait to hear, but it got to be so long that it just looked silly listing a page of bands. It's a great list.
I didn't have much in the way of vinyl, so it was up to friends and spotty AM radio to play my favourite songs. One of the coolest songs from my youth was a song called "Action" and it wasn't by The Sweet (although that is an awesome song, and I did actually have the 45 at one time) it was by Streetheart. The song had it all - a big riff, and wicked groove (dare I saw it was discoesque?) a solid bottom end, and a killer vocal.
Of course over the years Streetheart would drop a lot of great songs and would weave themselves into the fabric of Canadian classic rock. I had (and have again) a couple of their albums but never did get the debut. Then one day, there it was in the bin just waiting for someone to rescue it and give it a home. Sadly there was no liner, but the jacket was okay and the vinyl despite the surface rash was fairly clear of clicks and pops after a good cleaning.
That first track is still the one that gets my attention: Drummer Matt Frenette's high hat over Daryll Gutheil's synth and the gut reverberating thump of Spider Sinnaeve's distinctive bass set the tone and to top it off Paul Dean's searing guitar rips it up. It was a pattern Matt and Paul emulate a couple years later when Loverboy dropped "Turn Me Loose" but it's "Action" that has the cocky strut. Behind the scenes there was stuff going on, and Paul would leave the band just as Meanwhile Back in Paris started to take off in Canada. Matt would leave after the next album, and join Paul in Loverboy.
Being able to finally hear this and get to the deep cuts is a lot of fun. I don't know why I assumed this album was one killer and then filler. I actually went into this expecting to have my worst suspicions confirmed and after two sides and a repeated play through to make sure I can quite confidently say that this album is pretty darned good. Although I have to say the big rock ending on "Can You Feel It" has a rushed fade that is rather jarring, and something I don't remember and isn't how the song plays on my best of CD. Oh well, maybe it was an anomaly that was fixed on subsequent pressings, or on the re-issue.
The band released a pretty definitive double CD anthology that covers just about all the high points, but dang revisiting the albums in their entirety has been enlightening. For anyone curious as to what this line up would have sounded like delivering some of Streetheart's other classics I'd recommend searching out One Night One Take that captured the 1993 reunion with Paul and Matt. The sound quality while not great captures an extraordinary performance.
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