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QuarterFlash - QuarterFlash

QuarterFlash

I suppose the meanest thing I could say about this one is, "Hey look kids, it's Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo's less talented doppelgangers." Of course that's more than a little unfair. I did say it was the meanest thing I could say, and really, after all this time is it even fair to take pot shots at QuarterFlash? No it isn't fair, then again no one said life was fair.

Let's step back and address the elephant in the room: their 1981 hit "Harden My Heart," a song that went gold, and single-handedly carried the album to platinum status by the middle of '82. The album had legs and "Harden My Heart" was an excellent song, and is still an excellent song. The saxophone solo was right up there with Raphael Ravenscroft's work on "Baker Street" - yeah, it was that good. So we know for certain the album had one killer track and I'm going to just park that one in a safe space and listen to the rest of the album ... you know, the songs I don't remember.

the band

Not to harp on my initial cheap shot, but there were hints of Pat Benatar-lite on the big song, as well as the follow-up single "Find Another Fool" which was the second song on the album. Then again the only similar elements between them were a female singer that was straddling harder rock with pop. It's like smushing Journey and Foreigner together and taking cheap shots because you think they were too commercial and sold their souls to sell records ... and maybe that was true, but it's beside the point. I still like those bands.

QuarterFlash was a '70s band that was still fashionable in the early '80s. While they were able to successfully blend the new with the old on a few of the tracks (the first two songs of side one, and "Right Kind of Love" that started side two), most of the songs were essentially enjoyable filler full of schlocky '70s-styled arrangements. The other jarring element here was having guitarist Jack Charles take lead vocals on "Critical Times" which honestly wasn't a horrible song, just out of place.

As if to double down on their '70s roots, the band includes a seven-minute opus called "Williams Avenue" that's an odd, funky jazz song that features a number of extended musical sections that felt like they belonged on a different album. It's also incredibly good ... I didn't want to like it, I wanted slick songs but this was special. Heck even the violin solo was right where it needed to be. You won't find this on a Pat Benatar album.

back cover
The album is a little uneven in places, but when it's good it's really good. Frankly, the band would never top their debut single, but to their credit they released a pretty adventurous album that took some chances. I hadn't listened to this all the way through in a long, long time and frankly it was better than I remembered.

 

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