In hindsight, how could this band Signal not have made it? I ask you? All the ingredients were there for a rich cocktail of success. But then again, events conspired to sink this band before they had a chance to flourish.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Signal
ALBUM: Loud And Clear
LABEL: EMI America
SERIAL: CDP-7-90973-2
YEAR: 1989
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGINS: USA
LINEUP: Mark Free – vocals * Danny Jacob – guitars * Erik Scott – bass * Jan Uvena – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Arms Of A Stranger * 02 Does It Feel Like Love * 03 My Mistake * 04 This Love, This Time * 05 Wake Up You Little Fool * 06 Liar * 07 Could This Be Love * 08 You Won’t See Me Cry * 09 Go * 10 Run Into The Night
Signal Background
In hindsight, how could this band Signal not have made it? I ask you? All the ingredients were there for a rich cocktail of success. But then again, events conspired to sink this band before they had a chance to flourish.
All the members had a start in their careers prior to Signal. Free was with King Kobra, did a stint with legendary LA ‘undergrounder’ LA Rocks who eventually became Eyes. He also recorded on a host of albums. Erik Scott came from Idle Tears, Uvena from Alcatrazz and Alice Cooper, and Danny Jacob had his own band Kid Brother and did touring stints with Sheena Easton.
A melodic amalgam of Giant and Survivor is what we get with ‘Loud And Clear’. Kevin Elson did the production here, just as well really as Danny Kortchmar was originally scheduled to do the job but I don’t think he could have produced the masterpiece that this album turned out to be, but in saying that, he could’ve made Signal a completely different sounding band. Hmm. There’s a thought.
The Songs
There are some impressive co-write credits here too, Mark Baker, Bob Halligan Jnr, Van Stephenson, David Roberts, Eddie Schwartz, all reasonably familiar names in AOR circles.
The quality of the songs are a testament to this fact: ‘Arms Of A Stranger’ is a brisk but brilliant lead off track and sets the tone for the songs that follow on. The initial single ‘Does It Feel Like Love’ and ‘My Mistake’ warm things up, before we hear one of the album’s highlights ‘This Love This Time’, a subtle piece of AOR genius which could be deemed a ballad by comparison.
The goodies don’t end there though. ‘Wake Up You Little Fool’ is built on a dark and somber backdrop and builds momentum as a brooding song slice of excellence. ‘Liar’ is a dramatic and intense affair, even the mono syllabic song title when dung by Mark is full of drama. The ballad ‘Could This Be Love’ is an absolute heart melter, and album highlight while the super catchy melodic rocker ‘Go’ strikes while the iron is hot. The solo from Danny on this one is a killer. This track also appears on Triumph‘s 1987 ‘Surveillance’ album but is rebadged as ‘Running In The Night’ with different lyrics. .
In Summary
Indeed, ‘Loud And Clear’ is another album with a guaranteed entry into the AOR Hall of Fame, but here’s my own personal opinion about it all. Some record executive at EMI America should quite literally put in stocks in the town square for not doing their job in giving this album the promotional push when it came out in 1989. EMI America were absolutely hopeless during the 80’s, the Signal debacle was not an isolated incident.
Signal on Video
Go
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Arms Of A Stranger
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Click to go to YTM album page.
