GNP - Safety Zone

Before I put the record on I figured I'd jot down what I remembered from the album. It's been a long time since I've given this a proper listen. First thing to disclose is I am still a big SAGA fan after all these years. Back in 1989 when GNP dropped I bought it right away because both Steve Negus (drums), and Jim Gilmour (keyboards) were involved - they were the G &N in GNP. The video for "How Many Times" actually got quite a lot of play on YTV Rocks - that was hosted at the time by Laurie Hibberd and they even had an interview with Steve who talked about the album. I don't remember much about the interview, but he seemed pretty happy and there were high hopes the album would do well. I did like the single, and I had high hopes for the album too.

As much as I wanted to like the album, as a whole it never really seemed to gel for me. In addition to "How Many Times" I made an effort to like "Safety Zone" as I put it on a few mix tapes. This was back when I was buying like thirty CDs a month, and would give each disc a listen and pull out the songs that stood out and add them to an ever growing pile of mixed cassettes to keep me company in the car. If nothing grabbed right away, I'd just file it, and maybe listen again later. I bought a lot of stuff for one song. With GNP I played it a few times hoping for more songs to reveal themselves. As a SAGA fan, I was rooting for Mr. Negus and Mr. Gilmour. I did try, but I didn't really like it that much. A big part of it was vocals. Robert Bevan had chops for sure, but I didn't care for his voice. Same with Jim's singing. There were a couple of SAGA songs, okay one - "Scratching the Surface" where his voice was perfect. Generally though, Jim is a really great background vocalist who is best when he counters. He's an enhancer, but isn't really a lead vocalist. Then again that's just my opinion, and there are a lot of people who would disagree with me.

Back to Robert Bevan, it didn't take long to put two and two together and recognize him as Robbie Rae, half of The Raes a dynamic duo who hosted a variety show on CBC back in the late '70s. Yeah I watched it. We didn't have cable, and to be fair they did have decent musical guests. I don't know why I remember them playing the video (before we knew to call them videos) for Prism's "Night to Remember" but I do - I think this was the same episode they played "Armageddon" too. I also cannot get unstuck the image of the two of them singing "Que Sera Sera" in their white satin jumpsuits.

A while back I was flipping through the regular record section and I stumbled upon a vinyl copy of Safety Zone that had been remaindered. Honestly there was no reason to get this again. I had a pristine CD copy at home in the studio. Next thing I know I'm home and I have a copy of the record under my arm. Why not? After all there were a couple of decent songs on it, and who knows maybe I was unduly harsh back in the day. Besides, it would be fun to have the record.

So now here I am, dropping the needle and preparing to revisit an album I've not listened to in decades. I have the liner notes in front of me. I'd forgotten that Jim and Steve wrote the majority of the songs together, and several were the whole band. If nothing else, this was a team effort.

I think it's time to put it on and see where this goes. For a change I'll jot down my thoughts as the songs play and then come back later and clean things up.

• The album opens with "How Many Times" and it's still a really solid pop song. This was pulled out as a single for good reason. It was the reason I bought the CD when it first came out.
  
• The next song "One Life" started out really strong, and then sort of wandered off target a bit. Still it was pretty decent, but I was disappointed.
  
• "No Parade" is a Jim Gilmour keyboard driven song that hits down the middle of the road, and features some nice vocal interplay between Jim and Robert. While not a song I'd pull out of a crowd, it was pretty solid, and very adult contemporary. Yeah, this was around the time Michael Bolton had abandoned his rock roots to go down the same road. Why not?
  
• "Remembering" starts with Jim channelling his inner Roger Hodgson. The song then settles into adult contemporary and for all that it's okay. It's a mid temp effort, and features some nice guitar work by Bob Bartolucci.
  
• The first side is coming to a close with "Love Must Be the Answer" that sees the band again charting a path down the middle of the road. There are some little hints of prog, or melodic rock (very light) but this isn't a progressive rock song. Again I'm feeling a little bad for not getting into Robert Bevan's vocals as he's a very good singer, but just seems out of place on most of these songs. To the point I'm not actually able to focus on the supporting arrangement I will give it up for the guitar solo by Richard Fortin.

That's the first side. I will say that I'm probably enjoying this more now that I'm older, than I did when I was in my mid '20s. Even now I find myself waiting for the rock to start, and the reality is that this wasn't a rock record in that respect. I get the sense the band wanted to put out a pop record that was more mainstream in approach. Or not, I'm sitting here trying to arm chair quarterback the motivation behind an album that came out over thirty years ago. I will say if the point was to make a record outside of the confines and restrictions imposed by being in SAGA they succeeded.

Time to get up and flip this over.

• 
  Ah, we go. "Safety Zone" this is a song I really wanted to pop. Musically this is probably the closest thing to SAGA so far. The rhythm guitar work is very reminiscent of Jamie West-Oram from The Fixx. Again, it's the vocals that just don't work for me. I'm starting feel like a bit of a dick ragging on Robert's voice.
• Another ballad. "Eyes on the Prize" feels similar in structure to "How Many Times" in places. If you're going to repeat yourself, may as well riff on the best song on the album. As something to listen to, this is enjoyable for what it is, but not a song I'll remember once the album is over.
• "French Connection" is another mid temp middle of the road effort, that seems to want to play in the Michael Bolton sandbox. Careful digging around in the sandbox, you may not like what you dig up. That's why I'm a dog person.
  
• "Russian Routlette" okay, what's this? This I don't remember. At all. This is a little faster, but has a edge and a sense of urgency. I'm really digging this. Maybe because it's so different than the last couple of songs, it's like a breath of fresh air. This is probably the best rocking song on the album so far. Bob Bartolucci again kills it on guitar. Very late '80s generic, but so well done.
• The album closes with "In Your Eyes" that immediately goes for the feels with Jim's piano work, and Roberts vocals. This works for him, after practically pissing on the poor dude I can finally say the carpets match the drapes. I'm hoping this turns into a power ballad as that would be cool ... Nope, it stayed a piano ballad, with strings and everything. A beautiful song for all that, and while I had hope the song would bust wide open, I can't fault their choice to keep this a piano ballad. It was really good.
  

Well, there we go. It's been a long time. Still not sure this will get pulled down very often. I will admit that I did enjoy this for what it was, and it was a nice to hear Steve and Jim colour outside the lines. This was an album I always wanted to like more than I did. With the involvement of Steve Negus and Jim Gilmour I was rooting for the guys to nail it out of the park - still, they did get on base a couple of times. 

Sadly Robert Bevan would pass away in 2006. He was a really talented singer, make no mistake. I just never felt he meshed with this material. 

This often gets mushed in with melodic rock, most likely due to the presence of Jim and Steve and their pedigree, but the reality is this is a decent middle of the road album with a little more going on musically than other albums at the time. There are still a lot of people out there who really liked this, and that makes me happy. Better still, Andrew McNeice who runs MelodicRock.com also has a small label, and is re-issuing a remastered version of the album.