In my books Boulevard is a band which is right at the top of the heap of my popularity stakes. They had it all really, I mean any band that can get away in the AOR scene with a moniker called Boulevard deserves admiration.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Boulevard
ALBUM: Into The Street
LABEL: MCA
SERIAL: MCAD-42317
YEAR: 1990
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: David Forbes – vocals * Randy Gould – guitars * Mark Holden – saxophone * Andrew Johns – keyboards * Tom Christiansen – bass * Randall Stoll – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Talk To Me * 02 Where Is The Love * 03 Lead Me On * 04 Eye Of The Hurricane * 05 Light Of Day * 06 Crazy Life * 07 Rainy Day In London * 08 Where Are You Now * 09 Need You Tonight * 10 Eye To Eye
URL: Site Link
Background
In my books Boulevard is a band which is right at the top of the heap of my popularity stakes. They had it all really, I mean any band that can get away in the AOR scene with a moniker called Boulevard deserves admiration.
Great players, a wonderful vocal talent in David Forbes, and on this album in particular, the services of Englishman John Punter, an AOR producer right up there with Neil Kernon and Terry Thomas. You know the coincidence among all three don’t you? They’re all English. So what does that tell you?
In 1988 Boulevard released their self titled debut, though abbreviated in title to B.L.V.D. This too is extremely worthwhile getting, though the sound is slightly less rockier and has a hi-tech approach scattered throughout.
For this ‘Into The Street’ effort released two years later, the sound is full on melodic rock somewhere close to the territory that a band like Diving For Pearls operated in.
The Songs
Very thoughtful and well put together melodic rock arrangements, and for the most part, they are all strong that I’m scratching my head trying to find a weak one.
The string of songs of ‘Talk To Me’, ‘Where Is The Love’, ‘Lead Me On’, ‘Eye Of The Hurricane’, ‘Light Of Day’ and ‘Crazy Life’ are about as good a run of songs on a CD as you’ll ever likely to hear.
‘Rainy Day In London’ is the token ballad and provides a lucid backdrop, while a Zappacosta vibe makes itself known on ‘Where Are You Now’.
‘Need You Tonight’ continues that smooth Boulevard style melodic rock that by now you’ve become familiar with.
The album closer ‘Eye To Eye’ is slightly different in that it is very typical of Canadian hi-tech bands such as New Regime, Eight Seconds, or Paradox.
In Summary
Based in Vancouver the band didn’t fare that well in the sales stakes, and Forbes kept juggling his duties between there and his home town of Seattle across the border.
Boulevard fell into obscurity soon after, though bassist Tom Christiansen appeared a few years later with Faith And Desire. A lovely memory nonetheless.
However, it was good to see Boulevard re-emerge in the new century with a new lineup, new video (2016) and new album in 2017. Click the tab below.
Boulevard on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
