The Front - Underworld

On of the record stores I like to frequent has a pretty solid online store. Every so often I'll just go on a splurge in the comfort of my home, where I am able to wear my crocs and not feel like I'm being judged. So there I am, mindlessly searching for stuff, and I key to the fact I can search for still sealed items ... 

Well, this could be fun. 

I went on a bit of a tear and ended up with about a hundred bucks of stuff that seemed like a good idea. I got the kids to pay for it as it was close to my birthday. One of the treasures that popped up was Underworld by The Front. The name of the band felt familiar, but I couldn't peg it at the time. So I added this to the cart. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but from the back cover photo was as it was on Duke Street records, so it was likely going to be okay. After all, Jane Siberry and Rik Emmett were on Duke Street at one point so I assumed this would be a guilty by association thing. 

The album was indeed a lot of fun. This was classic early '80s AOR in the best way. Yeah, it's more than a tad derivative and rather generic if you want to split hairs, but I was a big fan of the commercial era of Journey and Foreigner, and I liked Canadian stuff by Stan Meissner (love Stan), David Roberts and Blvd (who knows why they figured that made more sense than just calling themselves Boulevard) and a host of bands who were cut from the same cloth. The Front crafted a really, really good sounding album. I mean this sounded huge, and the performances were really spot on. Heck, Dominic Troiano is in the credits as one of the main guitar players - yeah, that's a score.

After a couple spins I figured I'd look up the band. I wouldn't say I came up empty but there's very little out there. Underworld was the band's second album and both can be found if you want to give them a listen. Considering Duke Street records only lasted a decade before folding, it's actually really cool the music is out there. So much stuff never resurfaces.

As near as I can tell The Front was primarily a studio project that was seemed to be centred on multi-instrumentalist and vocalists Tim Thorney, and two other vocalists Paul Henderson, and Joel Feeney. It's not clear who sang lead, and frankly it doesn't really matter. The three blended really well, and there's a sense of continuity to the songs that makes this a cohesive listen.

As good as this is, and it is very good - I couldn't really pull anything out as being a focal point, or you know - a hit. It works as an album. There are no dead spot, or weak song. None. The album was produced by Hayward Parrott and Tim Thorney, and it was recorded and mixed by Hayward Parrott who was at one time the chief engineer at the legendary Manta Sound in Toronto.

There wouldn't be a third album.

As I was reading up on the band I learned that Tim Thorney passed away in 2021. By all accounts he seemed like a heck of a talent. 

Do yourself a favour, give them a listen. Both of their albums thankfully they're out there to stream which is kind of cool considering Duke Street Records went under decades ago. So kudos to whoever made the decision to keep the band alive. 

P.S. When I first added this to my cart I had confused The Front, with another band called The Front that I had heard of way, way back, that featured Dann Huff on guitar, but I'm not sorry at all I found this one first.