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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Get Lucky., September 14, 2000
If I have to read one more review about "faceless corporate rock from the shallow 80's music pool"...please...If all of these bands like Foreigner, Styx, Supertramp, Toto, Boston, Loverboy, REO Speedwagon, Survivor, Journey, etc. were really faceless and bland corporate rockers how come their names are the only ones that come up to define a certain period in top 40 history? Sure, these bands continue to take heat from critics and nay-sayers alike, but they all had their strong suits. Loverboy churned out some memorable pop songs like "Turn Me Loose", "Working For The Weekend", "Lovin' Every Minute Of It", "When It's Over", "The Kid Is Hot Tonight", "Hot Girls In Love", "This Could Be The Night" and "Notorious". If you are going to criticize these corporate rockers, so to speak, let's take a good look at today's music: Britney Spears, Hanson, N'SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Sisqo, and countless other manufactured-to-sell pop bands. I'd take Loverboy and any of those old corporate rock bands any day. At least they weren't catering only to the under 16 crowd.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A GREAT example of what 80's R&R was all about..., January 4, 2001
Ever since these Canadian boys invaded the US in the early 80's Loverboy has been a favorite of mine, and being in radio has given me a HUGE opportunity to follow these guys quite regularly. I've only seem them perform twice, and the last time I could tell that Mike Reno has lost a tiny bit of his ability to hit some of the higher notes...but he STILL sounded pretty good. 'Big Ones' is probably one of the better examples of what 80's rock & roll was all about. Who could forget 'Workin' For The Weekend' (a blue-collar anthem to this day) and 'The Kid Is Hot Tonight' and gosh, all the rest--fantastic bubble-gum harder than average pop-rock music. Loverboy, more than most pop bands of the 80's knew how to produce an immediately likeable guitar-riff (much like Def Leppard was able to do--only maybe not as good) and always kept the energy flowing high. They were no strangers to ballads, either, and they were ALL top-notch as well. But what I think could make or break a band in the 80's was the ability to tour and promote albums, and THAT is where Loverboy excelled, again more than most pop bands. These guys seemed to be in the big arenas every few months! I have NO idea where they managed to write new songs--let alone get into a studio to record them, but that is exactly what they did, and through the late 80's you could COUNT on a new Loverboy release coming out every few months like clockwork. And they were good, too--really good on stage, which doesn't hurt. These guys may not be looked at as a serious rock & roll band, but I don't care--I LIKE Loverboy, and probably always will. Great CD.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad collection of Canadian hard rockers, March 9, 2004
Canadian rock during the 80's: there's Bryan Adams, Rush, Glass Tiger, and the Toronto-founded Loverboy. When it comes down a definitive single by them "Turn Me Loose" is definitely a candidate, with its pulsing bass, chugging guitar, and the hunger apparent in Mike Reno's voice when he says "I gotta do it my way or no way at all" which more or less sums up the fierce mindset of the protagonist.The other is the hard-hitting guitar and synth workout of the anthemic "Working For The Weekend" from Get Lucky, of which this is the best single from one of their best albums. Three other songs from this album are the hard rock hoochie-coo of "Lucky Ones," the pounding "When It's Over" and the not-too impressive "Take Me To The Top." Of the songs that I heard when I became aware of them, the first one, "Lovin' Every Minute Of It" and its pounding tribal rhythms, synths and chanting, sported some backing vocals that make it sound more like Def Leppard. Yes, the song was written by a certain Robert "Mutt" Lange, although it lacks the lustre of his later works, it does have his signature. The other single from the Lovin' Every Minute Of It album, the synth ballad "This Could Be The Night," was clearly trying to capitalize on Reno's duet with Heart's Ann Wilson on "Almost Paradise" (not on this compilation) and made the group sound more like Foreigner. Still a memorable ballad. And as if that weren't enough, they repeated the formula on their contribution to Top Gun, "Heaven In Your Eyes," which is the best of the hard rock ballads, what with the hard-hitting power vocals and guitars in the chorus. "Notorious" from their last studio album, was quite a kicker, produced as it was by Bruce Fairbairn and co-written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. Their last stab at greatness was enhanced by a video featuring a bevy of beauties representing girls who were "every mother's nightmare, every schoolboy's dream." Although I find the belted wish of "I want to be your slave" a bit demeaning. The Bob Rock-produced "For You" and "Ain't Looking For love" are harder-edged numbers with more emphasis on guitar and power vocals in the chorus. Ditto for "The Kid Is Hot Tonite," from their first album, is what the early Cars would sound like if they had the hard-driving guitars in the chorus. The keyboards could easily fit on a Cars album. Mike Reno's intense vocals and Paul Dean's hard guitars encapsulated the power formula of Loverboy, and what made it work. After that, it was a matter of whether the song itself was good. The exclusion of "Dangerous" from Lovin' Every Minute Of It or "Almost Paradise" might make this incomplete to some. Still, a worthy compilation of a band that in a timely manner broke up right at the end of the 80's, leaving behind one brand of 80's hard rock.
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