Customer Reviews

Too Hot to Sleep

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD was an impulse purchase back in 1988 when it first came out. I was about to graduate from college, and I was in the music store, and I saw this new CD from Survivor sitting there. I had not heard any tunes from it, but I knew I liked Survivor, and I had a feeling from the cover that this one would be a little harder than the last two ("Vital Signs" and "When Seconds Count"). So I bought it, put it on when I got back home, and was totally blown away! I'm still blown away by this CD, in 2001.

Survivor had started out as a hard-rock group, with lots of solid guitar work. They gradually started adding more and more keyboards on each new album, with the two albums featuring Jimi Jamison becoming pretty heavily based on keyboards. So this one was a return to their earlier years, although it still had a fair amount of keyboards.

"She's A Star" is a great way to open this CD, with its crunching guitars. "Desperate Dreams" is more like what you'd find on their previous two disks, but with a little more edge. "Too Hot To Sleep" starts off with a nice little acoustic bit, then proceeds to a full-fledged rocker. "Didn't Know It Was Love" is the only tune from this CD that I heard on the radio. It's like the tunes on the previous two CDs, but also a little edgier and louder. "Rhythm Of The City" - what can I say? This is the tune I use to "break in" any new CD player I get. Crunching guitars, cool solo work, just a great tune. "Here Comes Desire" is another great rocker, with some cool piano work. "Across The Miles" is the only true ballad, a pleasant calm oasis on this CD. In spite of that, it does not sound out of place. "Tell Me I'm The One" and "Can't Give It Up" are both good solid rockers with good guitar work. "Burning Bridges" starts out brooding but quickly kicks in with an urgency that makes it an excellent way to end this CD.

This CD was not as commercial as their previous two - I don't know if that was by design or if by 1989 the landscape was changing such that this type of music was falling out of favor. I remember those being lean years for the type of music I liked. But of all the Survivor CDs, and I have them all, this is my favorite. More guitars, excellent songs, good production - it has it all.

This one makes my Top Ten List of favorite albums.
I became a Survivor fan after the movie Rocky III. They had a few good hits, but they really big when singer Jimi Jamison replaced Dave Bisler.
Vital Signs was good pop, as well as When Seconds Count. Since Too Hot to Sleep was their last contractual album with Scotti Brothers, they decided to go out with one fiery punch. I wished it would have garnered more attention for another contract.
They rocked hard and grab you by the jugular with She's a Star, then let you relax a little with the pop gold of Desperate Dreams. They go back for the hard rocker in Too Hot To Sleep, then switches back to their best pop sound to date, Didn't Know it Was Love. Then, it's back to a high pulse rate with more rockers like Rhythm of the City and Here Comes Desire. If you listen, you might survive.
On this album, Survivor does not hold back, but delivers a rockier, harder-edged sound. This was the kind of music they definitely have a talent for, and should have been doing all along.
Unfortunately, it received little or no airplay, giving the band a loud eulogy that nobody seemed to hear.
Jamison tried a few solo endeavors, trying to keep the Survivor name alive, but he continues to spudder without the supporting trio tandem of Frankie Sullivan and Jim Petrik.
This is the BEST of the Suvivor albums. One of the few 1980's band that went out with one big bang.

one of the greatest rock albums ever produced. The Songs are blueprints for any band in a melodic-rock environement. Fantastic Vocal Performance and Guitar playing. It was their last album before they split up in 1989.

Im a huge fan of the JIMI JAMISON-led Survivor. VITAL SIGNS(1984) was a perfect AOR album. Jimi's powerful and melodic voice blended PERFECTLY with Jim Peterik's songwriting and Frankie Sullivan's guitar.
WHEN SECONDS COUNT (1986) wasnt as chart friendly yet the songs took on a much more deeper meaning and passion; a solid outing indeed.
TOO HOT TO SLEEP (1988) saw Survivor pushing themselves in a more hard rock direction. Edgier songs include "Shes a Star" , "Here Comes Desire", "The Rhythm of the City" and "Burning Bridges". The result may be a little off kilter for Survivor fans craving the AOR slick ( and yes slightly cheesy) sound but the songs sound refreshing an almost hungry. Fear not, Survivor delivers the sound that made them AOR Gold on songs like "Desperate Dreams" , "Across The Miles", "Didnt Know it was Love", "Cant Give it Up", AND "Tell me Im the One".
"Too Hot to Sleep" has a very infectious grove and I cant get the lyrics out of my head. Overall, A trilogy of GREAT Albums by a band that really should have received more recognition for their songwriting ability and their incredible singer/frontman Jimi Jamison.

this is survivor's best cd to date! jimi jamison's voice was at a all time high on here. the production and quality songwriting was also there. this was a different survivor record, the songs were harder and the whole cd is full of blazing energy! can't give it up , and here comes desire smolders! i am very glad they are re releasing this cd in america!

Survivor became a favorite of the melodic rock genre during the 1980s with several big hits. However, with this last effort of original material from the 1980s, their popularity waned. I remember hearing the first single from the album, the catchy mid-tempo "Didn't Know It Was Love" on the radio, but it didn't stick around long. I also heard the beautiful, touching ballad about a long-distance relationship called "Across The Miles", but this song fared no better in terms of popularity. Such was the fate of this very underrated album.

This album was a return to a more rock sound than its pretty and poppy predecessor album "When Seconds Count". For sure, there is more "crunching guitar" on this album on such songs as "She's A Star", the title track, and "Rhythm of The City". "Tell Me I'm The One" is a great melodic anthem. "Desparate Dreams" is a great ballad that I actually may have heard on the radio once or twice. All in all, a great final hurrah (at the time) for a once-very popular band. Too bad it received so little noteriety.

I have waited a long time for this CD to come out. The year after I graduated high school, I listened to this CD (tape at the time) a lot. "Too Hot to Sleep" offers a more hard-edged apporach then the previous album "When Seconds Count." I would say that almost all songs on this recording are classic Survivor. 'Tell Me I'm the One' and "Across the Miles' are awesome songs that got little or no air time. I would say that "Too Hot to Sleep" is second only to Survivor's "Vital Signs" in music quality....a real bang for your buck here!

Too Hot To Sleep, one of my all time favorite albums, is Survivor's last original album released in late 1988. It is much heavier than previous works Vital Signs and When Seconds Count. They could play safe with another Vital Signs like albums that could produce much more hits. But they didn't do that. They finally produced what THEY really wanted to do. Some Survivor fans refer this album to Caught In A Game styled album. Maybe so in a way that they wanted to produce perfect melodic rock album. I think this work stands between Caught In A Game and Vital Signs. So the album became true to what they think is ideal rock.

She's A Star opens the album really hard but crisp pop tune as well sounding like Caught In A Game with a bit of Vital Signs mix. "Desperate Dream" is a great emotional ballad sounding familiar to gWhen Seconds Counth or gVital Signsh appreciators.
This one should have been the first single. "Didn't Know It Was Love" the first single from this album was not a bad tune as an album track but weak for Top 40 hit and sounding like "Is This Love part 2" so the timing was bad. Actually the album tracks are not prepared for hits with the exception of "Desperate Dreams" "Didn't Know It Was Love" and "Across The Miles". "Too Hot To Sleep" falls into this category as Billboard editor at that time put it "it is not for Top 40 hit". But is excellent as a melodic rock masterpiece track. "Rhythm Of The City" is "Head Games (Foreigner)" styled nice rocker. "Here Comes Desire" is meticulously arranged rocker and one of my favorite rock tracks of Survivor. "Across The Miles" is beautiful nostalgic ballad later covered by Uriah Heep in "Sonic Origami" album. And "Tell Me I'm The One" is my #1 favorite of this album. This track is arranged contrary to Journey's cleanly-no-noise style. They use noise to their advantage. Chorus is a bizarre at first but as the song goes on it FITS perfectly--sort of live feeling. "Can't Give It Up" is 60s up tempo upbeat pop with heavy mix. "Burning Bridge" is another stellar rocker perfectly wraps up the title image of TOO HOT TO SLEEP. It really has red-hot atmosphere.

Survivor hasn't released original album since then but I am sure they will be back. It is a landmark album essential for melodic rock fans. For a starter, however, I recommend either "Eye Of The Tiger" or "Vital Signs".

"Too hot to Sleep" is the 7th studio album by American AOR band "Survivor", originally released in 1988 and their last studio effort in the `80s. In contrast to the previous albums "Too hot to Sleep" was arguably put together on a project basis featuring founding members guitarist Frankie Sullivan, keyboardist Jim Peterik, and established vocal powerhouse Jimi Jamison. Bass is performed by Billy Syniar and drums contributed by Mickey Curry.

On "Too hot..." "Survivor" adapt to a certain extent to late `80s rock standards which not only applies to their image and visual aspects but also to the production which is considerably thicker (not heavier)that the previous albums and perfectly polsihed.

Beyond that, "Too hot..." is a natural continuation of the "Survivor" sound founded on "Vital Designs" and developed on "When seconds count". So once again "Delivers" keyboard-driven AOR supported by slick, though reserved, rhythm section plus fair amounts of acoustic and electric guitars. In retrospect one can not overlook that the album features a good number of quality Adult oriented rockers including the huge chorus single "Didn't know it was love". There is also the power-rocker "Can't give it up", the groovy "Rhythm of the city", the climactic "Burning Bridges" and of course the mega-melodic "Desperate dreams" built on keyboard/guitar harmonies to die for.

"Too hot to handle" is a commonly overlooked offering in the "Survivor" catalogue which never-the-less suceed in delivering more AOR magic by this legendary line-up.

I've been listening survivor since i was a child...This mean that i'm trying to have all these cds that's only i can find here, at amazon.com ; This Cd is very good because is heavier than others from survivor (but still have the survivor's touch in it). What you are still thinking, buy...