New England - Explorer Suite, Walking Wild & 1978

Review date: August 1998

New England formed in 1978 and released 3 albums before they split-up in 1983 - New England, Explorer Suite & Walking Wild. After the split Gary Shea and Jimmy Waldo went on to join Alkatrazz. Hirsh Gardener and John Fannon also stayed in the music business writing and producing. The interest shown in the New England web site told Gary Burgess at GB Music that there was still interest in their music. GB Music secured the rights to release Explorer Suite and Walking Wild on CD. To cover the earlier part of their career we get 1978, which contains early demo versions of tracks on the self-titled debut plus 3 previously unreleased tracks.

I have to admit that I hadn't heard of New England until I reviewed the Shyboy album, which Hirsh Gardener produced. As a bonus track on that album Hirsh Gardener & John Fannon got together with the guys in Shyboy to record a live version of New England's Top 40 hit - Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya. With this trio of albums I've been able find out just what else was happening in the early 80s while I was listening to NWOBHM and Purple & relations bands.

1978

New England's early material has a soft rock/pop sound whose most distinctive feature is the ELO/Beatles vocal harmonies. The album shows that New England had commercial rock radio in the States as their prime target. They succeeded when Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya was a Top 40 hit and it is probably to track that most people will remember them for. It you're looking for reference points then ELO, Paul McCartney's Wings and Styx are names that sprung to mind at various points whilst listening to this. Best tracks are Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya, Hello Hello Hello (ELO synth pop rock) and Searchin' (ELO meets Bee Gees vocals).

An interesting album for fans to find out about the early days of the band, but the least essential of the trio. A bit too laid back for me and the demo quality of the tracks shows through.

Rating: 6/7

Explorer Suite

On this album to band move on from the late 70's pop rock of the earlier material to adopt a more recognisably AOR approach to the music. The band still retains those ELO style harmonies, but this time the music is 80's keyboard AOR with a slight New Wave-ish influence on the faster tracks.

Honey Money is an uptempo start that is AOR with pop appeal. A New Wave-ish guitar introduces Livin' In The Eighties which is more synth driven rock. It is clear that the band is adopting a more 'rock' based approach to their music. Things take a gentler turn with Conversation which has acoustic guitars strumming this along. It's Never Too Late features that 80's approach to AOR. The title track is a big pomp affair with ELO & Queen characteristics. Seal It With A Kiss brings the tempo back up - AOR pop. Hey You're On The Run is great - ELO with a rock attitude.The piano gets centre stage for the ballad No Place To Go. Searchin' as I've already said when reviewing 1978 has got vocals that say 'ELO meets Bee Gees'. Hope is 'big' ballad. They close the album with a piano ballad - You'll Be Born Again.

Rating: 7/8

Walking Wild

Walking Wild has Todd Rundgren on production duties and sees the band adding a harder edge to some of their material and rocking out on a couple of tracks.

The title track is uptempo AOR rock with plently of keyboards. All that touring with AC DC, Kiss etc clearly had an effect. On Holdin' Out On Me there is more than a touch of Angus & Co. Don't Ever Let Me Go is back to the commercial uptempo style from Explorer Suite. Love's Up In The Air is a slowie with the ELO/Beatles influence shining through. Why it is called DDT, and not Dream a Dirty Dream, I can't figure out, because political correctness wasn't invented back in the 80's. This uptempo number has a habit of getting inside your head. The type of tune that if you hear it in the morning, you're likely to wander around all that day singing 'Dream a dirty d-r-ee-am tonight' - yeah that will really impress your co-workers. Get It Up (another chorus I wouldn't recommending singing in public) is a display of vocal prowess that sits on top of some nifty synth string work. L-5 has a good vocal harmony in the bridge. Ok, that's enough of the blow-by-blow account of each song. I'm sure you've got the picture by now.

Rating: 8

The Big Picture

It has been an interesting experience listening to all the albums back to back for about 2 hours. If you get all 3 albums, you can listen to the band progress from fledgling 70's popsters through to 80's AOR rockers. If you're on a budget and can't afford all 3, then which ones you buy really depends on your personal tastes. 1978 features their most successful moment (Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya), but I'd say it is one mainly for existing fans. Explorer Suite sees the band move into AOR territory and perfect those ELO style vocal harmonies. My personal favourite is Walking Wild, where the band take the style developed on Explorer Suite but give it a harder edge, but I suspect that most other reviewers will choose Explorer Suite. Both albums deserve a place in the collection of AOR fans.

The good news for all New England fans is that the band is back together & working on some new material. It will be very interesting to find out how they sound 20 years on from when they first started.

For more information about New England check out www.newenglandrocks.com.

Mood Swings - Nigel Wilson - All Rights Reserved