As a career retrospective, these two fat volumes will take some beating. Thirty nine songs over two discs, both filled to within a few seconds of their eighty minute capacity. All the hits, from 1984 onwards; a selection from recent releases '
Dreamland' and '
Lemon Tongue' (ostensibly the European and North American versions of the same album), plus ten rare and previously unreleased tracks. It all adds up to the best part of three hours of melodic rock bliss.
As well as that, Band biographer, Campbell Devine, has written an absorbing set of liner notes, and included a track by track written commentary from Derry Greehan and Johnny Dee.
There have been
Honeymoon Suite compilations before, but none of them quite as imaginative or as substantial as this one.
The first song that Greehan and Dee wrote together was as an entry to a local talent contest back in 1982/3. The song was
'New Girl Now'. The fact that they won was incidental to the attention it gave them, leading to a recording contract with WEA Records. The band's self titled debut album was released in June 1984. It spawned four hit singles and despite relatively primitive recording technology back then, they - '
New Girl Now', 'Stay In The Light', 'Burning In Love' and '
Wave Babies' - still sound great today.
Buoyed by the band's initial success, WEA drafted in Bruce Fairbairn to produce the follow up album. Compared to the debut, Fairbairn gave
'The Big Prize' (1986) a huge, three dimensional rock sound.
Another four hit singles emerged from this second album release - the combative '
Bad Attitude'; the melodicentric '
What Does It Take'; the achingly articulate '
All Along You Knew' and the wonderful
'Feel It Again'.
That last mentioned track, after which this compilation is named, is a truly phenomenal song. From a sunny, swaying intro and an unassuming verse it suddenly explodes into a vertiginous chorus, with the bgvs echoing the hook, pushing the song on to bigger and better musical heights. The Beatle-esque middle eight adds a strong power pop dimension, topped off by Greehan's short, sharp axe solo. The song outros dramatically, with Grehan playing a totally different, but equally dazzling axe solo over the fading strains of the chorus.
When the time came to enter the studio to record '
Racing After Midnight', Fairbairn was occupied with Bon Jovi. Warners brought in Ted Templeman, better known for his work with Van Halen.
The rawer edged, guitar driven '
Looking Out For Number One', the slick, streamlined '
Love Changes Everything' and the comparatively anodyne '
Lethal Weapon' - the theme song from the film, written by Michael Kamen - are all featured here.
Bookending the hit singles from 'Racing . . .' are two rarities. First, the somewhat forgettable
'Those Were The Days', written for the even more forgettable movie 'The Wraith', starring the long forgotten
Charlie Sheen. Second, a powerful if reverential treatment of Greg Lake's
'I Believe In Father Christmas', recorded for a promotional WEA Christmas CD release.
In between times, keyboard player Ray Coburn had left the band for a stint with Harem Scarem. He returned for the band's fourth album
'Monsters Under The Bed'(1991), produced by the up and coming Paul Northfield.
Back were the huge banks of keyboards and the guitar wall of sound of the earlier albums, and an inspired bunch of songs, songs with a real grown up resonance.
The singles that got the airplay were the marvellous
'Say You Don't Know Me', a savage commentary on the band's experience in the music industry, and
'The Road' (contributed by Coburn), another song marking out the band's love of the Fab Four, written to commemorate the death of Toronto (the band) drummer, Mark Caporal.
It was a sure sign of the changing times that strong, classy songs like
'Little Sister' and '
Bring On The Light' - two among some of the best material the band had written - didn't get even a shot at the charts.
Most of this second disc however is devoted to both the band's more recent releases and to the previously unreleased material.
The contemporary flavour of '
Lemon Tongue', released through the enterprising Bullseye label in Canada, was not to European liking. Consequently, six tracks were replaced by more traditional HMS songs on the Frontiers Records' version,
'Dreamland', leading to a live appearance at the Gods' Festival in England (now evolved into Firefest, and still growing stronger).
From '
Lemon Tongue' only '
Touch The Sun', which sounds to me like Collective Soul doing something from 'Revolver', and the acoustic ballad 'Into Me, Into You'.
On the other hand, five tracks from
'Dreamland' get an airing, none of which have the immediacy of the material from the first four albums. Nevertheless, as is often the case with good music of any kind, they repay patience. Where previously a hook, a chorus or a melody would be driven home with power and pace, these tracks show restraint and a sheen of sophistication. For example, '
Lagavulin' will remind you of Crowded House's subtle harmonies and spacey arrangements, whereas '
Gone' will creep up behind you then snag your attention with an infectious guitar motif.
Of the five selections,
'Even Now' is probably the pick. Dee gives one of the most moving vocals of his career on this song, bringing to life a lyric that peels away the layers surrounding a failed relationship.
The remaining 8 tracks on disc 2 are previously unreleased and turn to be a veritable treasure trove.
Greehan comments that '
Breathe' was HMS's attempt at "being grungy", but that it didn't work. Totally agree with that judgement. The band's melodic rock pedigree keeps forcing its way to the surface, cancelling out the grunge stylings, but never quite fully emerging. A great melodic rock song remains inside '
Breathe', maybe one day it'll escape.
'
Tightrope' is in a similar vein, closer to previous HMS material perhaps, but several shades darker.
Don't let the bizarre lyrics of '
Where's My Wire' fool you. This is a huge pop rock song, with a slightly leftfield, but massively addictive chorus. Like something off the Fab Four's 'Abbey Road' album.
Of the rest, there are a few clear standouts. That said, it's crystal clear from them all that Greehan, Dee and Coburn just don't write anything less than high quality.
'
Under My Skin' recalls Toto and Mr Mister. Two bands who made it in the USA. Why didn't HMS?
The heavier, more complex '
Sit For Hours' will remind you of Kings X, while the laid back last track
'I'm So Boring' is a magnificently apposite end to the collection.
There are only two surprises here:-
1. Why none of these songs made it onto an HMS album, and
2. Why none of the singles propelled HMS into the rarified atmosphere of the US Top Forty. Many less talented bands achieved this level of stardom, yet for Greehan, Dee et al (and their label/s), it remained frustratingly elusive.
One thing you can be sure of with this anthology:- you can dip in anywhere, in the sure knowledge that you'll come out smelling of roses every time.
Written by
Brian Thursday, October 19, 2006
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