Teaze - One Night Stands

Since finding Teaze Live in Japan a few years ago, I had been on the lookout for this one. Not that it was hard to find once I made up my mind that this was coming home - I just wasn't convinced I needed to add it to my collection.

Part of the issue was the live album. Yes, it was enjoyable, and it was definitely one of those albums I had been curious about since my teen years ... but it was also sort of uneven, and the songs just weren't that memorable, which I still find strange because I really do like the album, and I was listening to it again the other day.

One Night Stands, though, just looked cool, and it had the benefit of having Myles Goodwyn's name stamped on the back cover. April Wine was one of those bands that always had a song on the radio growing up, but during my formative years between 1978 and 1981 the band was on a tear: First Glance, Harder ... Faster, and The Nature of the Beast. Right in the middle of their commercial peak, Teaze were touring with April Wine, and through that association Myles was enlisted to produce Teaze's upcoming album.

I still find it odd that this was never on my radar back in the day. Listening to this now, the songs are much tighter, the arrangements are better than what I heard on Live in Japan, and the band sounds killer. Marc Bradac and Chuck Price were a good team on guitar, and Mike Kozak drove the bus from his throne behind the kit. Everything was centred on Brian Danter. It's not a stretch to say that Brian had an incredible voice — there are times when I thought, "Goodness me, the guy sounds like Dio."

Since I have time, I'll go through the songs in order ... here we go. 

"Back in Action" had the hallmarks of being a single — except it wasn't. This song is a banger and should have been a hit. For whatever reason, it ended up as the B-side to "Heartless World."

"Young and Reckless" is hard rock mixed with a funky groove. Don't roll your eyes, this song is a banger. It has just about everything you want in a rock song. Not exactly radio-friendly, but man, I can imagine this on a mixtape with the windows rolled down.

"Heartless World" starts with a dreamy, almost progressive-influenced intro before unleashing the galloping guitars. Then, out of left field, before the song even starts, there's a saxophone solo. Seriously, a sax solo. It's the most jarring musical moment on the entire album. In my mind's eye, I can see the guys gathered around when there's a tentative knock on the control room door. The studio gopher pokes his head in: "There's a guy here who says he plays sax. He showed up to the wrong studio. Did you guys want to book a sax player?" I can see everyone but Myles shrugging their shoulders. Myles rubs his chin and then says, "Yeah, sure, I can use a sax player."

Does it work? Sure, why not. It's a great album track, but is it a single? Hardly, unless they thought it might be one after a bit of editing. The album track pushes six minutes, and the single clocks in at 3:41. I bet they left in the sax solo. Man, I'd love to hear what they did with the song for the 45.

Side One closes out with the pedal-to-the-metal rocker "Red Hot Ready" that, while a tad generic, is good fun. Man, Brian can deliver the goods.

The second side opens with one of my favourites on the album. "Through the Years" is honestly a bit clunky at times and doesn't quite pick a musical lane — but it doesn't matter. When the song gets to the chorus, with the layered STYX-esque backing vocals, it just goes to another level. I love this one, and it's a great deep cut.

"Reach Out" is so much fun. Take the riff to Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever" and turn it inside out, add a twist and garnish with the groove and feel of Foghat's "Slow Ride," and you get "Reach Out," one of the best rockers on the album.

I can imagine Marc Bradac and lyricist Mike Kozak trying to outdo each other with the tropes on "Loose Change," the other single pulled from One Night Stands. It's not a ballad, it's not country, it's not ... not, um, rock. This is something Bobby Goldsboro or Dan Fogelberg would pull off while handing out tissues to the crowd. Oddly, the B-side to the single was "Young and Reckless," a song that absolutely blows this out of the water.

Now, of course, having been a dick, I have to say that while this song is nothing like anything else on the record, it does have a goofy sort of charm and, after a few times through, is actually kind of endearing. Go figure.

The album closes with "Touch the Wind," another great track. When Brian goes full throat, he's mesmerizing. What a voice. The song is so good. What an album track. Frankly what an album.

One Night Stands, for whatever reason, didn't catch on, and one can argue the album maybe didn't have the legs ... but I'd argue that whoever selected the radio singles missed the mark completely and shorted the band. Then again, the rock landscape is littered with lost albums so good it boggles the imagination. In a world of woulda, coulda, shoulda, Teaze just seemed to be in the right place at the wrong time.

The band would take another swing and a miss with their 1980 release Body Shots. Shortly after, Brian Danter would leave the band, and in short order they were dropped by their label ... and that would be the last of Teaze until the band resurfaced with a new album titled Rev Your Engines, fifty years after their 1976 debut.

I'll admit I'm curious ...