Isn’t it a ghastly cover? It’s fortunate the same cannot be said about Coney Hatch’s music, which is superb hard edged commercial radio rock, prime time 1982.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Coney Hatch
ALBUM: Coney Hatch
LABEL: Mercury, Anthem (Canada)
SERIAL: SRM1-4056, ANR-1-1037
YEAR: 1982
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Carl Dixon – vocals, guitars * Steve Shelski – guitars * Andy Curran – vocals, bass * Dave Ketchum – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Devils Deck * 02 You Ain’t Got Me * 03 Stand Up * 04 No Sleep Tonight * 05 Love Poison * 06 We Got The Night * 07 Hey Operator * 08 I’ll Do The Talkin’ * 09 Victim Of Rock * 10 Monkey Bars
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Isn’t it a ghastly cover? It’s fortunate the same cannot be said about Coney Hatch’s music, which is superb hard edged commercial radio rock, prime time 1982. A very talented mob are Coney Hatch, sourced from the wider Toronto area.
The band, named after a London lunatic asylum, were spotted by noted Canadian songwriter Pye Dubois at the legendary Toronto bar The Gasworks. Pye then put the band onto his partner in crime Kim Mitchell (of Max Webster fame), and the rest, well.. you the know the rest.
The Songs
Mitchell handled the production duties for the debut album, which raised a few interested eyebrows from not only Canada, but the US and UK as well. At the time, the band enjoyed the twin vocal talents shared between Dixon and Curran, though I have to say I prefer Dixon’s the best. There are some excellent tracks on here which still stand the test of time for me at least, namely ‘Devils Deck’, and the fast melodic flow of ‘We Got The Night’. An anthem for 1982 if ever there was one.
The quirky ‘Monkey Bars’ deserves a mention, very much like a Max Webster tune, but written well before Mr Mitchell came into contact with the band. ‘Hey Operator’ was a commercial attempt (covered by Aldo Nova the following year on his ‘Subject’ opus), as was ‘You Ain’t Got Me’. Elsewhere, songs like ‘Love Poison’, ‘Victim Of Rock’ and ‘Stand Up’ all demand ‘ear attention’.
In Summary
The band were fortunate enough to tour extensively with headliners Judas Priest that year, and earned enough accolades from fans all over. Coney Hatch could quite easily lay claim to be the forerunner to bands such as Honeymoon Suite and Harem Scarem, such was their influence.
They released two more albums including the brilliant ‘Friction’ from 1985, voted by many Melodic Rock punters as being one of the top 20 AOR albums of all time. Personally, I’m not so sure about that claim, but it’s pretty close. A review of that one will no doubt end up on this site at some stage. The band reformed for their 2012 album ‘IV’, good to see them still going.
Coney Hatch on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
