Harlequin - Love Crimes

One of the first albums I bought was Harlequin's 1979 debut mainly because my friend Andrew, who was a great guitar player (this is how I remember him), wanted me to learn "You are the Light" so we could play it together. Victim of a Song would become one of my favourite albums, and I did learn how to play "You are the Light". The combination George Belanger's distinct vocals, and Glen Willows' searing guitar work was a one - two punch that seemed to deliver over and over on that album.

When the band dropped their new album in 1980 I was primed and eager to hear what the band had to offer. They didn't disappoint - the legendary Jack Douglas produced the album, and the first cut "Innocence" perfectly encapsulated everything that Harlequin brought to the table. Killer vocals, a killer guitar solo, and a killer hook. It was, and remains probably one of the best songs the band ever recorded.

The bar was immediately set pretty freakin' high and frankly it was too high for most of the songs to clear. This isn't to say the rest of the album is filler - far from it but I will admit that when I pull this album out the first thing that crosses my mind is "Innocence" - the second thing is the driving riff from "Thinking of You" a song that really shouldn't be as cool as it is, but dang it is a great song. I was in my senior year and we were on a basketball road trip, and when we were warming up this was one of the songs our opposition was playing to get their team hyped. Now I love the song, but it's an odd choice especially when you get to the chorus where the song chunks along, "I'll be thinking of you" kick, kick - snare, "thinking of you" kick, kick - snare. Oh well, it did stick with me. That was also the trip I figured out how to dunk a ball ... during warm up - but it still counted.

Anyway, where was I?

Right. It wasn't unusual for my teenage self to listen for the best tracks and pull out what I thought were the mix worthy songs and then more or less bury the rest of the album. Honestly the two "best" songs were on the first side - and as a result I seldom flipped the record over (this wasn't the only album to suffer such a fate). When I found this replacement copy I honestly couldn't remember any other songs from the album.

I did pay more than a dollar for this so I was going to sit and intentionally listen to the songs until I had either changed my mind, or at least was familiar enough with the album to stand by my initial assessment back in 1980. The first side was still smoking, and while there were no duds, nothing really eclipsed the two songs I liked back then, and still really liked now.

Turning the album over was like walking through a field of tall grass, I couldn't see any tracks from my old memories, and the songs were all new to me despite the fact I'd played it many times. The songs were a good listen but nothing was really sticking. A less charitable person would call it filler, but that's unfair, and not accurate - the songs while good just weren't memorable. They're okay to have playing in the background, and when they're cranked (and they are now) they have a certain presence - but once done, they're done. The exception comes near the end of the second side. "Can't Hold Back" has a spark and it certainly got my attention. Now that the energy level was up, the album's closer "Midnight Magic" was definitely the beneficiary of the momentum. I likely wouldn't single this one out for a mix tape, but it does end the album on a high note.

Love Crimes featured two of the band's best songs, but the album despite being a solid AOR effort, didn't resonate with me the same way their debut did. 

Why then write about this one instead of Victim of a Song? Because just like back then, this album held the promise of things to come - even if it didn't deliver. The two songs that did are indelibly stamped into my musical DNA and that was enough to make this worthwhile and a purchase I was glad to make - again.