{"id":21535,"date":"2012-08-21T05:23:01","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T10:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=21535"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:19:22","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:19:22","slug":"loverboy-rock-n-roll-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/loverboy-rock-n-roll-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"Loverboy | Rock n\u2019 Roll Revival<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"It\u2019s been five years, but Canadian AOR mainstays Loverboy (yes, the Loverboy that worked for the weekend and briefly made red leather pants seem like a good idea) are back with a new studio album\u2026 sort of. For their latest offering, the first since 2007\u2019s very underrated Just Getting Started<\/em>, the band serves up just three brand new songs alongside nine re-recordings of previous Loverboy hits. Not quite what fans were hoping for, but new Loverboy tunes are always a good thing, and if done right even re-recordings can be fun.<\/p>\n

Rock n\u2019 Roll Revival<\/em> is the title of this collection, and given the recent surge in popularity of the \u201880s AOR bands (and some very successful tours alongside Journey and similar bands), it\u2019s a good name for a Loverboy collection. The album gets started with the new songs, all of which are produced by the legendary Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith). It opens with the title track, an upbeat rockin\u2019 number that harkens back to Loverboy\u2019s signature early \u201880s style. The mellow quasi-ballad \u201cNo Tomorrow\u201d comes next, followed by the up-tempo (and surprisingly sweet) \u201cHeartbreaker,\u201d both of which fit the more relaxed and soulful vibe of Just Getting Started. These new songs are very strong, very catchy, and worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the rest of the album \u2013 the majority of the album \u2013 is where Rock n\u2019 Roll Revival<\/em> stumbles. With their studio albums still in print and countless greatest hits packages on the market, was there really any need for another look at Loverboy\u2019s hits? It doesn\u2019t help that the band doesn\u2019t really sound all that motivated or excited to be playing these songs yet again. Working for the weekend? Mike Reno sounds tired enough to barely convince us he\u2019s working for Wednesday night. The rest of the songs don\u2019t fare much better, but \u201cLovin\u2019 Every Minute of It\u201d is another low-light.<\/p>\n

If this was a full album that mirrored the strength of the first three songs, Rock n\u2019 Roll Revival would have earned a much higher rating. Instead it just feels like a missed opportunity. Obviously the die hard Loverboy fans are going to want to check this out, but even they ought to consider skipping this album and simply downloading (legally, of course) the three new songs. <\/p>\n

Genre: AOR, Melodic Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMike Reno (v)
\nPaul Dean (g)
\nDoug Johnson (k)
\nMatt Frenette (d)
\nKen \u201cSpider\u201d Sinnaeve (b)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tRock n\u2019 Roll Revival
\n2.\tNo Tomorrow
\n3.\tHeartbreaker
\n4.\tTurn Me Loose
\n5.\tWorking for the Weekend
\n6.\tLovin\u2019 Every Minute
\n7.\tThe Kid Is Hot Tonight
\n8.\tLucky Ones
\n9.\tAlways on My Mind
\n10.\tQueen of Broken Hearts
\n11.\tWhen It\u2019s Over
\n12.\tHot Girls in Love<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers<\/p>\n

Website: www.loverboyband.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 6.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – News Editor — It\u2019s been five years, but Canadian AOR mainstays Loverboy (yes, the Loverboy that worked for the weekend and briefly made red leather pants seem like a good idea) […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[2102,2901],"class_list":{"0":"post-21535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-frontiers","8":"tag-melodic-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}