Customer Reviews

Big Prize

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THE rock album of the time.I waited for this album and got my copy the day it was released.Johnny,Derry,and company blew the roof off with a more polished production,but the heart and soul of the lyrics and music were very much still there.A "classic" now,but a very necessary addition to any lover of real rock's collection. Please be advised that Honeymoon Suite is STILL IN BUSINESS!!!!A new album is in the works and you can get all the current info from the Honeymoon Suite Official Site!

Check it out!

I have had this tape since it was first released. I still listen to it often! Every song is a classic. If you like this, you'll love anything by Giant, too! Guess I'm stuck in the '80's, but there isn't much out there today that has the kind of stamina this releases has!

Although just about every song on this album is awesome, I would buy this album just for "Take my hand"--- what a beautiful, powerful and moving song. Their songs are definitely one of a kind, too bad it took me 20 years to discover them!

Where are they? This band made a few SUPERB albums and then someone pulled the plug....Why? Man, i never even got the chance to see them live! Friends, it is a shame that this group is not producing and touring anymore...

Cheers! Eric :)

...I can't believe I just bought this album. Then again, I CAN believe it. "Bad Attitude" just rocks. The instrumental break somewhere in the back half of the song is super--a perfect cliche of what Canadian scrunchie rock is supposed to sound like.

The album art is kinda lame but there's no way the Suite could've surpassed its debut album cover, which deserves to be gilt-framed in every 39-year-old's family room.

this disc is just full of great songs. Every track just comes alive and reels you in.........awesome EH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wore this album out when it first came out in '85. Alot of bands go into a "sophomore slump". No such thing with this Canadian band. Honeymoon Suite reached their musical peak with this second release "The Big Prize". There isn't a weak track on this cd and for God's sakes how many AOR bands get a talented flutist like Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame to play on their album? Anderson's flute solo on "All Along You Knew" is a classic moment in AOR rock history. "Feel It Again" was the big hit on this release but there are many other highlights including "Wounded", "One By One" and the title track. Unfortunately, Honeymoon Suite never achieved commercial success. Their musical output has been inconsistent since this release though they still record today. Buy this one if Honeymoon Suite interests you.

I have to review this album.

I bought this album at a time when I was playing in a cover band, partly to earn a living, mostly to have fun. And mainly because I loved music. The people I played in this band with were my best friends, and we all had different types of music we loved. The guitarist and I thought Honeymoon Suite were a pretty decent band from what we heard on their first album, and performed 'New Girl Now' I don't know how many times. Hundreds.

But it was The Big Prize that made me pay a bit more attention to this band. It may have been the production of Bruce Fairbairn (who would also produce Aerosmith on Permanent Vacation, helping revive their career), but I know the main reason was this. The keyboardist at the time, Ray Coburn. It may have been possible that Fairbairn struck an affinity, or noticed something about Coburn's songs, but they are the three standout tracks on this album by far. And throughout the album, the synthesizer becomes a much stronger element in the mix than their first album.

When I bought their third album, and noticed Coburn had left (but Fairbairn still produced) I still gave it a chance. But it wasn't nearly as memorable as The Big Prize. If Honeymoon Suite had a shot at bigger success, it was with the formula that happens on The Big Prize, and what Fairbairn and Ray Coburn were bringing to this band.

Bad Attitude opens this collection, and it is certainly a strong song. Its writer Derry Grehan wrote most of the band's material, and this sounds much like what happens on the first album. Grehan is a great guitarist, technically adept, but also pays attention to texture and sound. Its on the Coburn songs where Grehan really shows a lot of dexterity and taste.

It's 'Feel It Again' and 'Lost and Found' by Ray Coburn that really made me tell other people about this album. This was at a time where I certainly loved music, but I think my appreciation for technique, arrangement and what goes into a song was just being found. And what I really liked about these songs, and made me still feel to this day that Coburn and Fairbairn were on a winning streak that could have been capitalised on, was their lyric and arrangement. Very strong choruses, verses that set mood, synthesisers that don't dominate but accent or embellish the song. And what I also like is when something happens just once in a song, like a sound that comes in for a second, that makes a second verse different from a first verse, but doesn't return again. (This is all production and arrangement talk -- skip ahead if you're bored)

I just really can't say enough about whatever Coburn & Fairbairn accomplished in the 3 tracks from this album that I really love. They stood out, and honestly made the rest of the album even better. If they hadn't been on there, The Big Prize would still be a good album, but much like their 1st and 3rd efforts.

Like I said, I have to review this album. But its because I really think, and pretty much always will, that 'Feel It Again', 'Lost And Found', and 'All Along You Knew' were pure gold.

It's from the 80's it's true and sounds like, no doubt about it. But when you get to the introduction of "Wounded" which unfortunately is missing in these samples, you get their message. Not to mention a beautiful guest performance in "All Along You Knew".. -"Hey this sounds like that guy from Jethro Tull, doesn't it?" -"Yep, you bet is the fab Ian Anderson in person. Boy, what a plus!"

This is one of my favorite CD's. Of course at the time it came out I would have to have said album. But never mind that! I loved every track on this CD. If you liked th