| CD REVIEW Honeymoon Suite |
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Band : Honeymoon Suite 3 ½ years after their previous outing, the live CD & DVD HMS Live (which was actually a recording from 2002, as mentioned in my review of that album, posted on 08/02/2005, and still available for your scrutiny), these Canadians around mainstays Johnny Dee (lead vocals) and Derry Grehan (lead guitar & backing vocals) are finally back with a studio follow-up of 2002 's Dreamland (actually a Frontiers re-issue of the band's 2001 Lemon Tongue with four European bonus tracks)! It would seem the band (named after the fact that they were based out of Niagara Falls, which happens to be the unofficial capital for Canadian honeymoners and many US citizens from around that area in Ontario) kept on working on a low profile since returning, touring Canada and selected North US cities. In 2006 however, they issued another greatest hits collection titled Feel It Again: An Anthology (a 2-CD set featuring not only most of the band's singles and selected album tracks, but also some rare and unreleased material). A new DVD featuring all their videos, enhanced with live footage, was also scheduled for early 2006, but I'm not sure what came of that. A new studio album was rumoured to arrive later that same year. Plans which obviously somehow fell through. In June of 2007 the band officially announced the return of the classic 1984 line-up, reuniting Dee and Grehan with keyboardist Ray Cockburn (who'd first left 'em in 1986 to return in '89), bassist Gary Llonde, and drummer Dave Betts (these latter two leaving in 1991). Together, the band has already extensively toured throughout Canada, and recorded this new 11-track studio album! A nice feature about Clifton Hill (named after a famous landmark in the middle of tourist activity in Niagara Falls) is that it not only sees Tom Treumuth bck in the producer's chair (he also did the band's eponimous 1984 debut album), but also a return to their sound of that era! Which means that, in essence, what you'll find on this album are Rockers with a balladesque background (lyrically) and ballads with a Rocking sound. You'll certainly agree "Ordinary", "Sunday Morning", and "Restless" belonging to that calmer frame of mood (even if both have some truly beautiful electric guitar to boot), but the 4 teasers (1 ½ minute samples) the band put on both their own website (honeymoonsuite.com) and MySpace page (myspace.com/hmsuite) are all of the somewhat more adrenalized nature. Always primarily "dominated" by the Dee & Grehan's typical vocal cooperation signature. Album closer "Seperate Lives" as a Country touch (mainly in the opening, and primarily induced by those weird outdoor evening sounds), but otherwise fits in perfectly with the rest of the set. No matter what, Honeymoon Suite are back, and what with the current Retro mood in music worldwide since the mid of this first decade of the new millenium, we can only hope that this truly outstanding band may find back some of its glory from the '80s. Granted, things may possibly never become as frantic as they were back then again, but I'm sure a lot of music fans today will respectively allow this Canadian outfit the niche they deserve! 90/100 Tony. |