Formed out on the Canadian prairies, and though there are only nine tracks, the energy captured on the Streetheart debut was not lost on followers of Canadian melodic rock.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Streetheart
ALBUM: Meanwhile Back In Paris
LABEL: Atlantic
SERIAL: KCA 92002
YEAR: 1978
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Kenny Shields – vocals, percussion * Paul Dean – guitars * Daryl Gutheil – keyboards * Ken ‘Spider’ Sinnaeve – bass * Matthew Frenette – drums
<TRACK LISTING: 01 Action * 02 Pressure * 03 Can You Feel It * 04 Move On Over * 05 Look At Me * 06 Captain Rhythm * 07 Street Walker * 08 People * 09 Just For You
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Yes, the Streetheart debut was given a local release as far back as 1978. Well, Canada is a long long way from New Zealand, and even in 1978 it was further away than ever. How the hell the album managed to find it’s way ‘down under’, and even get airplay on NZ Radio still mystifies me to this day, and I’m sure it would mystify Canadians too. However, as a result of that, I became familiar with Streetheart from day one.
The line up listed above is very well known, especially to Loverboy fanatics, and you can hear on this album, where the roots of Loverboy‘s sound comes from, pending the musical and songwriting influence of guitarist Paul Dean.
The Songs
Formed out on the Canadian prairies, the band’s nucleus were Shields and Gutheil, coming together in 1976. The others joined later. Playing the bar circuit and garnering a reputation, Streetheart signed a deal in 1978 which saw the release of this debut album the same year.
Some of these songs are regular tracks to the Streetheart back catalogue, including the likes of ‘Pressure’, the punchy ‘Can You Feel It’ and their first single, the excellent ‘Look At Me’. For me though, the two highlights are the brilliant opening track ‘Action’, and the funky but killer ‘Captain Rhythm’.
Though there are only nine tracks, the energy captured on this debut was not lost on followers of Canadian melodic rock, considering it was not particularly different to many other albums out at the time.
In Summary
Unfortunately, this lineup did not stay together for very long, with Dean and Frenette hooking up with Moxy‘s Mike Rynoski (better known as Mike Reno), to form the basis of the band Loverboy.
Meanwhile, back in Canada, Streetheart, continued on with new additions to the band (John Hannah and Herb Ego), and a whole host of albums released right through to 1983.
Streetheart on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
