The 1981 Listening Post - Survivor - Premonition

Survivor - Premonition

#391

By John Harrington Bland

August 1981

Survivor

Premonition

Genre: Rock

Allen’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5

John’s Rating: (Jesus Christ, I don’t know how to rate this one. 

My 14-year-old self: 1 

My 53-year-old self: 3.5) 

 Highlights: 

Chevy Nights

Summer Nights

Ah, Chicago rock’n’roll. Styx. Cheap Trick (okay, Rockford). The eponymous Chicago. And… Survivor. 

To me, Survivor means one song and one song only -- 1982’s “Eye of the Tiger”, which spent 6 weeks at No. 1 in the summer of my 14th year. Also known as the theme song to “Rocky 3” (the one with Mr. T, not the one with Dolph Lundgren). Also also known as the “Montage Song” used whenever a down-and-out hero needs that overnight third-act transformation (parodied brilliantly in “Wet Hot American Summer”). 

Outside of that, I don’t know dick about them. (Funnily enough, while researching this, I discovered that they had some massive hits in the mid-80s -- “I Can’t Hold Back”, “The Search Is Over” -- that I clearly remember hearing during my high school days and nights. But I swear to God I thought those songs were done by other bands. Which is kinda the problem I have with Survivor.)

“Premonition” predates all of those hits. It was their second studio album, after 1980’s “Survivor”.  

“Chevy Nights” -- I dig this one. Nice opener. I can imagine listening to this down at the beach. Summertime song. 

“Summer Nights” -- Another summertime song, but I’ve heard this before. I thought it was Journey. 

“Poor Man’s Son” -- ‘I’m a poor man’s son/ working all night long…’ Springsteen lite with a hint of Queen. This is the song that prompted Sylvester Stallone to hire them to write the theme for his next movie (see above).  

“Runaway Lights” -- This song screams 1981. The thrumming bass they will use to greater effect on ‘Eye of the Tiger’ is a big part of this one.  

“Take You on a Saturday” -- Starts off like Kiss. Ends like Journey.

“Light of a Thousand Smiles” -- Songs with “Nights”. Songs with “Lights”. I’m beginning to see a pattern… or a songwriting limitation. This one sounds like Billy Joel with louder guitars. 

“Love is on My Side” -- Starts off like Kiss. Ends like Journey.  

“Heart’s a Lonely Hunter” -- Sounds like Styx. Keyboards and harmonies. Lead singer Dave Bickler sure can hit those high notes a la Steve Perry. (Well, sort of; he apparently got vocal nodules after “Eye of the Tiger” and was fired.)

It’s got a good beat, Dick. I can dance to it. That’s about all I can say about it. Will it get heavy rotation in my playlists? No, but a couple of the songs might pop up from time to time. It’s not bad at all; it’s just that other bands have done this stuff much, much better. 

https://open.spotify.com/album/53hOr1HyJYXXMpPYRWdDnN?si=KVct8JEnQfOgUtvxia_reg

 

The 1980 Listening Post - Survivor - Survivor

Survivor

#74

Reviewed by Aaron Conte

February 1980

Survivor

Survivor

Allen’s rating: 3 out of 5

Aaron’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Aaron’s Highlights:

Somewere in America

Can't Getcha Offa My Mind

Let it Be Now

As Soon As Love Finds Me

Youngblood

Freelance

20/20

Whatever it Takes

Of 11 songs, only 2 real clinkers here.

By Aaron Conte

This album constantly surprised me and made me wonder why I never picked up this album back when it was new (1980). Maybe it was because I only had a fleeting flirtation with the "Molly Hatchet", "38 Special", Lynyrd Skynyrd", "Kansas", "Foreigner", "Thin Lizzy" genre and was too much of a KISS fan to entertain the thought that there was any other guitar band out there that could turn me on. That and I didn't smoke, drink, wear jean jackets or cut class. I was leaning further into what would become new wave, and "college rock" so I guess...my loss.

"Survivor" came from the midwest at a time when guitar bands were changing. We were being introduced to "The Pretenders", "Def Leppard", "Loverboy", "U2", "Dead Kennedys" and a solo crazy train wreck named Ozzy Osbourne. Their debut release simply titled, "Survivor" was a bold full-throttle statement that they could still be contenders in the swiftly changing landscape of what we called Album Oriented Rock.

With an Andrews Sistersesque (my word) cover model self-consciously hiding a dazzling smile, the  juxtaposition of band name and album art seems as if they were trying to throw us off their tail. This is a band who in two short years would be in full mainstream radio saturation, win a Grammy, go platinum twice as well as win a Peoples Choice Award. Midwestern modesty, to be sure, guided their quiet footsteps into the punishing world of rock and roll.

Every song with the exception of two, is a celebration of guitar riffs, big anthem choruses, power chords, clear drum sounds, some minor touches of eighties technology on down beats occasional date the record but mostly it is an unabashedly romantics take on what was then modern love. We now know who South Park creators Matt and Trey were listening to in 1980. More than twice we hear the refrain, "your love, your sweet sweet love" and maybe without irony think back to when we could say words like that, and mean it.

We are even treated to a taste of what lead to the penning of their signature song. "Youngblood", the fifth song that closes out side one, begins with almost the very same guitar tick, starting out quietly and building into a rock and roll boogie about a "cocksure school girl who gets what she wants,"...and who will "get what she needs". I think we can agree, even when they broke through with "Eye of the Tiger", these guys wrote lyrics that were a little bit too much on the nose at times.

Another "sweet love" track is in the middle of side two is "20/20". More adolescent lyrics about "having you in my sights" (get it? 20/20!), and, "can't disguise the fire in your eyes" (eyes! 20/20!), but what I really enjoyed about this song is what I enjoyed about another early eighties band, "R.E.M.". You can make this song about whatever you want when/if you give it a listen this year, because ultimately you get to sing along at the top of your lungs with the chorus, "twenty twenty!!!" Stipe was notorious for intentionally garbling words or just making sounds to go along with their melodies, leaving it up to the listener to decide what the message, if any, was.

Unfortunately that's not the case here with "Survivor". It's all too clear what they mean, but its still a fun song to sing, and hilariously, not the last...

"Freelance" is for all my friends out there who still go out there and bash their heads against the wall of this America to make a living. It begins with a transparent rip of Van Halen's "Running with the Devil", even borrowing Dave's first line, "I live my life..." If the first side of this debut album is one good track after another, this might be my favorite track on the record, if only because I couldn't shake the image they drew of a somehow sexy, badass freelance office temp who steals all the ladies hearts, OR maybe even better, a Broadway musical about a big city office boss who preys on the office temp pool. Ok maybe not the second one.

"Survivor" by "Survivor" is damn good album. Eleven songs at forty minutes is perfect. They definitely deserve the long storied career they had. This album was released in February of 1980, which means they wrote and recorded it in 1979. "Eye of the Tiger" hit in 1982. 

If only they held onto the song they also wrote then,"Rockin' Into the Night", instead of selling it to "38 Special". 

They could have gotten there sooner and enjoyed some of that sweet sweet love before Rocky had to get involved.

- Aaron Conte 4/16/2020!

The 1986 Listening Post - Survivor - When Seconds Count

Survivor - When Seconds Count

#431/2110

October 9 1986

Survivor

When Seconds Count

3.25 out of 5

It takes talent to make songs that sound like a perfect hybrid of Starship and Loverboy and Journey and find the worst of each of them. 

OK, maybe that’s actually pretty easy to do. But that’s what this sounds like. I got to give credit to Survivor for putting out six(!!!) mediocre albums in a row and still remaining a name that people associate with the era. 

Just…wow.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/u-vox/1179374363

The 1984 Listening Post - Survivor - Vital Signs

Survivor - Vital Signs

#210

August 1984

Survivor

Vital Signs

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

First Night

It’s the Singer Not the Song

Opening with an acoustic guitar, Survivor lays the template for its biggest record and sounds more like John Parr than John Parr. Did Survivor sound like every song on every movie soundtrack in the 80s because that was the sound of the 80s or did they set the template with “Eye of the Tiger”? Chicken and Rock Egg, I guess.

You’ve heard almost the entire first side of this album. “Can’t Hold Back”, “High On You”, “First Night”, “The Search is Over”. Put it on the turntable, lace up your skates, grab your corset bedecked girlfriend and hit the roller disco. 

I have to give it up for “It’s the Singer Not the Song” that has a bounce that could find it in the repertoire of a band in a different genre. Oh, who’m I kidding? I just like it. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vital-signs/289320252

The 1983 Listening Post - Survivor - Caught in the Game

Survivor - Caught in the Game

#182
October 1983
Survivor
Caught in the Game
1.25 out of 5

Band with limited ideas has completely run out of ideas. But, hey, the late Daryl Dragon played on some of this…so…there’s that.