Reviewed by Paul J Zickler
Released: 1981 The Kings Amazon Beach Genre: Rock Rating: 2 out of 5 Highlights: All The Way Why Don’t Love Do The Kings are a rock band from Vancouver, BC who had a hit single in 1980, released their first album, signed with Elektra, and made a second LP, Amazon Beach, that was a huge disappointment. The entire story of this album and why it’s so bad (in the opinion of the band themselves) can be found here: https://thekingsarehere.com/amazon-beach/ The short version is they stuck with Bob Ezrin, the famous Canadian producer (Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd) who discovered them, and he ruined everything. Elektra heard the songs, realized they were terrible, and asked the members of The Kings to move down to L.A. and make the record over again. They chose to remain loyal to Bob, the album came out as-is, and no one liked it, including the band. It is indeed a bad record, but you can hear The Kings’ potential here and there. Opening track and single All The Way has some nice riffs and showcases lead singer David Diamond, kind of a rough-edged Kevin Cronin. Sonny Keyes’ organ and piano work often stands out, especially on the bluesy, Supertrampish ballad Why Don’t Love Do. Honestly that’s about it, to my ears. I have a hard time imagining that these songs were THAT much better before Ezrin “ruined” them. The lyrics are all pretty dopey, the riffs are unoriginal, and the guitar solos mostly go nowhere. I do kinda like the cover for its ridiculous adolescent cartoonishness, but the band apparently hated how one of the Amazon women’s heads covered part of their name. There’s just no pleasing some people.
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