‘Friction’ is the third and final 80’s album by Toronto based Coney Hatch.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Coney Hatch
ALBUM: Friction
LABEL: Mercury, Anthem (Canada)
SERIAL: 824307-1, ANR-1-1046
YEAR: 1985
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Carl Dixon – vocals, guitars * Andy Curran – vocals, bass * Steve Shelski – guitars, keyboards, vocals * Barry Connors – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 This Ain’t Love * 02 She’s Gone * 03 Wrong Side Of Town * 04 Girl From Last Nights Dream * 05 Coming To Get You * 06 Fantasy * 07 He’s A Champion * 08 State Line * 09 Burning Love
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
‘Friction’ is the third and final 80’s album by Toronto based Coney Hatch. A popular band upon their arrival in 1982, their crisp style of hardened melodic rock bought them a load of fans and interest. In between times they released a second album in 1983 called ‘Outa Hand’.
By the time 1985 rolled around, the band had lost their razor edge to the melodic confines of commerciality – in the process losing drummer Dave Ketchum – replaced by former Toronto basher Barry Connors. According to previous AORster Polls, this album has proved to be a popular draw – it even featured in Boulevard Magazine’s Top 30 AOR albums of all time. Whether that is a reputable barometer of success is highly debatable – AORsters after all are a one-eyed lot – aren’t we?
In all honesty though, ‘Friction’ lacks the raw potential and power of the first two albums – the debut in particular. However, though it may sound watered down by comparison, the radio friendly vibes emanating from its grooves will appeal to radio rock fans, and less so to out-and-out hardened rockers.
There are a bunch of good songs – some less appealing, as to the playing time: 36 minutes. hardly enough to whet your appetite over surely? The album was produced by Max Norman, but unlike previous projects that he has worked on (namely Ozzy Osbourne, Loudness and 220 Volt), the big-time production seems scaled back against those efforts.
The Songs
The band get underway with a big intro on ‘This Ain’t Love’ – a spacious production and it all sounds promising. Carl Dixon’s voice still the major attraction with this band. This is as close to the 1982 debut as we’re gonna get. AOR makes an early entrance with ‘She’s Gone’ – and it’s a far cry from their raucous early material. Certainly this is no ‘Devils Deck’ or ‘We Got The Night’ – however, the track has some nice qualities.
Andy Curran gets to sing lead on ‘Wrong Side Of Town’, and it has to be said, throughout all of CH’s work and I repeat it yet again, that Dixon’s vocals are far superior to Curran’s – yet the band continued with the split singer system. Why? The two commercial tracks on the album are probably the best ones here: notably ‘Girl From Last Night’s Dream’ and ‘Fantasy’, both with ample keyboards and easy on the ear choruses.
‘He’s A Champion’ and ‘Burning Love’ are the sort of stomping hard rock tracks better suited to their prior albums – though the latter has a very melodic chorus, while ‘State Line’ is a faster paced effort – something this band excels at. Pity the speed factor is missing throughout.
In Summary
Despite the radio oriented appeal, the band and the album winked out of popular opinion. Their label dropped them soon after, the band continuing on for another year before calling it quits. Coney Hatch briefly reunited in 1992 to support their ‘Greatest Hits’ album ‘Best Of Three’, but did not turn it into a fully fledged comeback.
Carl Dixon went onto a solo career and survived a bad car accident in Victoria Australia during 2008. Curran went on to the bands Soho 69 and Drugplan, while Shelski went on to work with Larry Gowan. A good band – very unlucky and underrated by all. As a footnote, Coney Hatch reunited around 2011, and are still around a decade later.
Video
Fantasy
Girl From Last Nights Dream
