Billy Squier – Hear And Now

By 1989, Billy Squier was still out there delivering hard rock to the masses, even if the most successful years of his career was in the rear view mirror.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Billy Squier
ALBUM: Hear And Now
LABEL: Capitol
SERIAL: CDP 7 48748 2
YEAR: 1989
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Billy Squier – lead and backing vocals, guitars, production * Jeff Golub, John McCurry – lead guitar * Alan St John – keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals * Mark Clarke – bass * Bobby Chouinard, Anton Fig- drums * Mars Williams – sax * Eric Weinberg – mandolin * Rob Hardin – synthesizer * Steve Scales – percussion * Godfrey Diamond – percussion, backing vocals, production * Arno Hecht, Bob Funk, Crispin Cioe, Hollywood Paul Litteral, The Uptown Horns – horns * Doug Lubahn, Brenda White-King, Curtis King, Tawatha Agee – backing vocals

TRACK LISTING: 01 Rock Out / Punch Somebody * 02 Stronger * 03 Don’t Say You Love Me * 04 Don’t Let Me Go * 05 Tied Up * 06 (I Put A) Spell On You * 07 G.O.D. * 08 Mine Tonite * 09 The Work Song * 10 Your Love Is My Life

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

By 1989, Billy Squier was still out there delivering hard rock to the masses, even if the most successful years of his career was in the rear view mirror. His records between 1986 and 1993 were still backed by Capitol Records, A remarkable feat really, as hard rock was on the wane from 1990 onwards. I’ve enjoyed the Billy Squier ride through the years as his songwriting ability is very good mostly, and on all of his records you’ll find more than a few gems to keep the interest levels up.

The Songs

As we’ve written about often on this site, 1989 was perhaps the last great year of melodic hard rock/AOR as we knew it. There were so many great releases that year. I wouldn’t go so far as to including Squier’s ‘Hear And Now’ within the 1989 best of list, as it was overshadowed by some astounding albums of the era, but longtime Squier fans will probably disagree. ‘Hear And Now’ was released in June of 1989, and was a return to Squier’s 1981-1983 era of tough brand of arena rock.

It was markedly different to ‘Signs Of Life’ and ‘Enough Is Enough’, both of which were decent albums but really given too much spit and polish on the studio environment. The stand out tracks include ‘Don’t Say You Love Me’, which did quite well on the Billboard charts. ‘Don’t Let Me Go’ takes on a Tesla like appearance, with the abundance of acoustic guitar throughout the quasi ballad style. ‘(I Put A) Spell On You’ is another superb track, with multiple guitar parts doing the business.

Desmond Child provides songwriting assistance on a few songs (‘(I Put A) Spell On You’, ‘Tied Up’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Go’) plus the sassy rock of ‘Stronger’ featuring some prominent sax work from Mars Williams. Elsewhere, ‘G.O.D’ is a cranky slab of classic rock, unlike the mild melodies heard on ‘Mine Tonite’ with a mandolin part thrown in for good measure. I wasn’t quite so keen on the sassy ‘The Work Song’ but the ballad closer ‘Your Love Is My Life’ was a pleasant way to wrap things up.

In Summary

‘Hear And Now’ made it to a position of #64 on the Billboard album charts, A decent position considering the quality of albums from the same time frame. Billy toured the album between June and December 1989, sharing the stage with the likes of Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Kings X, Blue Murder, The Clarks and Donnie Iris. An interesting and varied selection of tour mates. Squier returned two years later with ‘Creatures Of Habit’.

Video

Don’t Say You Love Me