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Mr. Mister - Go On ...

Mr. Mister
Mr. Mister was huge ... then they weren't. Here in Canada the band's previous album Welcome to the Real World went triple platinum moving over 300,000 units. That's a lot of music per capita and I did my part by buying a record. I remember waiting for the follow up album ... and I don't know how I missed it. I suppose part of the problem was I didn't hear anything on the radio or see a video on Much Music. My sense of object permanence is kind of ... oooh a squirrel.

In the fall of 1987 Mr. Mister released Go On ...and while I may have missed the boat, others didn't and the album would still go gold in Canada (50,000) and the band's music would appear in a few soundtracks, from Stand and Deliver, Stakeout, and I am absolutely positive they had a song in the Patrick Dempsey movie Can't Buy Me Love ... I'm certain of it. Don't ask me why I remember that - or why I saw it in the theatre, but not what I had for breakfast.

"Stand and Deliver" opens the album, and it's really solid, and honestly it sets the tone for the rest of the record ... one thoughtful and musically exquisite song after another. 1987 was the height of glam rock, and here we have Mr. Mister trying to carve out their place with really solid adult oriented rock and roll that was more than simple boy wants to get in girls pants brain mush. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved a lot of the mushy rock. It's just that Mr. Mister and a handful of AOR bands were trying to do something a little different. They succeeded but audiences weren't buying it.

I don't have the benefit of decades of nostalgia on this one, and I'm trying to avoid asking where were the hits. The album doesn't have that "Broken Wings" moment ... instead it delivered consistency. At least that's how it feels. I've played this through a few times and each time the whole thing sounds better. I still get a charge out of "Stand and Deliver" but the song doesn't overpower the rest of the record. I'd go so far as to suggest that without Go On ... which I'm betting was heard by more musicians than the general public, Toy Matinee would never have released their lone killer album in 1990.

back cover
Mr. Mister may never make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, much to the chagrin of an outraged younger me, but they did leave an impression. 

So to Richard Page, Steve George, Steve Farris and Past Mastelotto thanks. 

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