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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vital music for 80's fans--the search is over, July 5, 2003
Those who only see Survivor as two-hit wonders, singing theme songs for Rocky III-"Eye Of The Tiger" and Rocky IV-"Burning Heart", think again. Like Heart, Survivor benefitted under producer Ron Nevison for two albums, Vital Signs and When Second Count. The first one, Vital Signs, has the mixture of hard rockers and ballads, punctuated with a mixture of heavy guitar chords and keyboards, of which four hit the charts.One of those singles was "I Can't Hold Back", which starts out slow, with Jimi Jameson's falsetto voice. One parallel between Survivor and Journey are those songs of yearning and finding one's destined love, as is evidenced in the opening verse: "Now it's time to trade those dreams/For the rush of passion's fire/I can feel you tremble when we touch/And I feel the hand of fate/Reaching out to both of us." Ferocious rock guitars and drums kick in beginning with "I've been holding back the night". The use of keyboards isn't as heavy as with Heart's Bad Animals, but Nevison's trademark production makes this a great single. Keyboards start off and dominate the chorus of the "High On You" single, whose crunchy guitars sounds like something Journey or Heart could've done. The unique way keyboards punctuated the beat was characteristic of 80's music that sadly marks a bygone era. "First Night", yet another single, starts out slow like "I Can't Hold Back" before that Frankie Sullivan's riproaring guitar blasts into rocker mode to be the fastest paced song here. The remembrance and special occasion of that first night is highlighted in this song. "And this night shall be remembered/Long after the music's gone/And we'll reminisce on the things we said/And we'll fall in love again." Aww, that's sweet. My favourite Survivor song is none of the Rocky songs, but the power ballad and soul-searching single "The Search Is Over." This was definitely made for Survivor, although it has shades of Loverboy's "This Could Be The Night." The chorus is immortal:
"I was living for a dream/Loving for a moment/Taking on the world/That was just my style/Now i look into your eyes/I can see forever/The search is over/You were with me all the while." Once again, destiny and fate plays a part. "Then good luck it finally stuck like lightning from the blue/Every highway leading me back to you/Now at last I hold you, now all is said and done/The search has come full circle, our destinies are one." "Broken Promises" is a rocker that wonders "Is it written in stone that we wind up alone?" Not a filler by any means, but neither a single. The title character in "Popular Girl" is, to quote Dave Lister from Red Dwarf, "a heartbreaker or moral garbage on legs." Clearly she's one of those who's there to look at, but nothing deeper: "And in the end, all she'll be is your friend/Though passion's your lone desire, she's the one you can't touch." There's a technological motif in one lyric: "When she's breaking your heart, she's the state of the art." "Everlasting" is the other power ballad here. This could've been a single, as it has catchy keyboards, guitars, harmony-sung choruses. In addition to looking for that everlasting love, it also asks a question that's really on my mind: "In this world of chances missed/Does forever still exist/This side of the fantasy/Can we afford to wonder/If this could be the one." The quicker-paced "It's The Singer Not The Song" is another singleworthy track dealing in the challenges one faces in trying to against the normal grind. "I See You In Everyone" is another Journeyesque power ballad, soft keyboards alternating with pounding guitar chords that made the Rocky songs famous. So chalk another up for producer Ron Nevison, one for Survivor, and a big one for 80's rock.
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by Survivor 
