Reviewed by Sheffield Chastain
Released: 1980 Steve Blimkie And The Reason Blimkie Genre: Peppy, Punky Power Pop Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Highlights: Break My Heart It Only Happened Twice Can't Say I'm Sorry Steve Blimkie and the boys of The Reason all hailed from London, Ontario and met while enrolled in the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College. These very nice Canadian boys were a one-and-done outfit (though Steve Blimkie would release Chasing Paper Tigers the following year) and they disbanded shortly after, with Blimkie eventually getting out of the business all together and becoming a lawyer. Derry Grehan would go on to form Honeymoon Suite with drummer Dave Betts following soon after. A lot of this is straight up Power Pop - like the opener Break My Heart Tomorrow and the odd All I Want Is You Alone - melodically peppy and energetic with just the right amount of harmonies and wistful underpinnings of despair and yearning. It’s a pretty straightforward offering of the genre, with notes of Donnie Iris and Elvis Costello, but without the awesome hooks. And most songs clock in around the 2 - 2 1/2 minute mark, which makes for an easy listen. For me, I enjoyed this record most when they leaned towards the punkier side of pop. Think Donnie or Elvis filtered through The Ramones (a band Blimkie and the Reason actually opened for). You can really hear this on It Only Happened Twice and Can't Say I'm Sorry. Perhaps that might warrant a listen for you. Fair warning - Blimkie’s voice is an acquired taste. After repeated listens I was just barely able to acquire it. We’ve heard A LOT of power pop from this era. This is one of them. From Canada. It's perfectly fine. Nothing to be sorey aboot.
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