Reviewed by Rod Brogan
Released: 1981 Straight Lines Run For Cover Genre: Lack-Of-Power Pop Rating: 1 out of 5 Highlights: It's Gotta Be Tonight Illusions The CanCon Regulations Toto. Session musicians Bob Buckley (UK) and David Sinclair (CA) played out on the Vancouver scene and got signed to Epic in Canada. This is some lukewarm early 80s pop, with no instrument other than synth sitting prominently in the mix, and competent but not particularly exciting 8 bar guitar solos. Side 1 closer Illusions is the most thoroughly composed track, with different parts for verse, bridge, chorus, solo, and the best vocal harmonies. Side 2 opener It's Gotta Be Tonight has a too-short sax lick, which livens up the proceedings ever so briefly, and should have been the lead single rather than Letting Go. The Casio keyboard sound on songs like Everybody Wants To Be A Star isn't the album's biggest culprit. It's the lack of memorable hooks. What makes a song pop instead of elevator? Straight Lines has the answer. This, their second release, didn't chart well, and the band was dropped. Sinclair went on to be a hired gun for k.d. lang and Sarah McLachlin, and Buckley wrote ad jingles. Run For Cover is best left behind even by the most completist collector.
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