An excellent AOR band from Boston were New England, who came out of nowhere during 1979, and released a widely distributed album on the MCA subsidiary Infinity.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: New England
ALBUM: New England
LABEL: Infinity
SERIAL: INF 9007
YEAR: 1979
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: John Fannon – vocals, guitars * Jim Waldo – keyboards * Gary Shea – bass * Hirsh Gardner – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Hello Hello Hello * 02 Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya * 03 P.U.N.K (Puny Undernourished Kid) * 04 Shall I Run Away * 05 Alone Tonight * 06 Nothing To Fear * 07 Shoot * 08 Turn Out The Light * 09 The Last Show * 10 Encore
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
An excellent AOR band from Boston were New England, who came out of nowhere during 1979, and released a widely distributed album on the MCA subsidiary Infinity. Pretty talented mob too, with a lush symphonic style melded with some solid and at times brutal guitar work from front-man John Fannon.
New England’s sound has a resemblance to luminaries Boston, Journey, and a rockier version of Foreigner, and when compared to those greats, it’s not hard to see why these guys were revered in the same breath.. The band and the album attracted an impressive production team, with Kiss‘ster Paul Stanley and AOR/Pomp producer Mike Stone involved with the project.
I do remember buying this album as a teenager, and even spotting the bands video for ‘Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya’ back in those heady days on New Zealand television! The remainder of the songs are a wonderful amalgam of guitar power, keyboard wizardry, and brute strength drumming by Hirsh Gardner.
The Songs
Bare witness to songs such as ‘P.U.N.K’, ‘Nothing To Fear’ and ‘Shoot’ which has hints of Canada’s Streetheart running through it. The more melodious moments are represented by album opener ‘Hello Hello Hello’, and the glorious ballad ‘Shall I Run Away’.
There are some hints as to their future direction taking a quirky dare I say it ‘new wave’ approach with the last track called ‘Encore’. Somewhere in the territory that fellow Boston-ites The Cars took their musical career. And for those who have heard New England’s second album ‘Explorer Suite’ it’s not hard to see where the direction and perhaps influences came from.
In Summary
Anyhow, a good album, a great band, and nice to know that all the members are still involved in the business in one way of another. Take a visit to their site listed above and find out more about the band.
New England on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
