Style: hard rock, glam metal
Label: Warner Bros
Year: 1988
Home: Ontario, Canada
Members: Johnnie Dee ~ lead vocals
Dermot "Derry" Grehan ~ guitars/b. vocals
Dave Betts ~ drums
Gary Lalonde ~ bass
Rob Preuss ~ keyboards
Additional: Michael McDonald ~ b. vocals
Ted Templeman, Bobby LaKind ~ percussion
By the book '80's rock with a slight bluesy edge. I'd like to hear more of the bluesy edge. Actually, I'd like to just hear more personality, blues or whatever. The singer does break the '80's stereotype with a baritone & not a screaming tenor. Though, he sings a bit uninspired. I don't know if that's because a producer didn't push him emotionally, as singing is as much about expressing feeling as saying words, or maybe the lyrics didn't inspire him, or maybe he wasn't confident. He's a good singer but sounds lost, like if this wasn't so over-stuffed & lacking any breathing room maybe he'd be better off. Which leads me to the one thing about this album I completely recommend hearing: the guitarist, Dermot "Derry" Grehan! For him alone you need to slog through this album. Wild, in your face, & messy in a Vinnie Vincent meets Deep Purple way that is madness in six strings. He is so good that I'd be interested in hearing his other bands the Dexrays & LoveJunk. Check out "Love Fever" with a funky R&B-esque guitar rhythm, soaring leads, & an equally funky synthesizer. It's a highlight of the album & has more personality than the other tracks combined. Which makes me wonder what the producer was thinking? If you have such a strong track, why not make more in its mold, versus just an album of bland imitative filler? "Love Fever" sounds nothing like any '80's band, yet the rest of the album dies a fast death due to the fact other bands have done this same sound with soundalike songs far far better. What's worse is how the producer decided to make the keyboards the focus on multiple songs, pushing the guitars away, to create some made-for-the-charts-but-not-much-else power ballads. Though, I do appreciate hearing keyboards higher in the mix overall, as rock keyboardists are unsung heroes, yet Honeymoon Suite has a guitarist who need not to be drowned under bad songwriting & music that isn't half as wild as his worst solo. Why do wet noodle ballad powers when you have a Vinnie Vincent in your ranks? That's like making Steve Howe the lead singer of Yes with Jon Anderson doing backing vocals, simply because there's others famous singing guitarists. What are you thinking? Formed in 1981 with their album debut coming in 1984, Honeymoon Suite had hits in both America & Canada largely buoyed by being featured on the TV show Miami Vice & in the movies Lethal Weapon, The Wraith with Charlie Sheen, & One Crazy Summer with John Cusak. This album was produced by Van Halen's producer Ted Templeman, but it was the first not to make waves in America. Likely because it sounds so much like so many other bands, but without the oompf outside of the guitars! This might be just over 30 minutes long, but its so lacklaster that its a slog. No wonder Grehan isn't more famous, as not everyone will have the patience to get through this. Not to mention "Love Fever" comes halfway in. I sometimes wonder what bands like this would have sounded like if they hadn't tried so hard to sound like a band that desperately wanted to sound like all the commercially successful bands, bands by the way who are successful as they have some personality or put forward what makes them unique. Hint hint. The band continues to this day, with their latest single coming in 2019, though with numerous line-up changes & no further U.S. impact.
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