Survivor
– Ultimate Survivor
By Zane Ewton
Sylvester Stallone’s favorite band has
released a career-spanning ultimate collection. 18 of the greatest
hits from this late 70’s to 80’s rock and roll band.
This all begs one question. Who is
Survivor? They are best known for creating the football stadium and
Rocky anthem, “Eye of the Tiger.” Survivor may not be the most logical
choice for a greatest hits album, but the corporate machine threw us this
compilation to build anticipation for the new Survivor release, their first
since 1988.
Survivor was a band that falls comfortable
between the likes of Journey and REO Speedwagon. They were a good
middle-of-the-road band and this compilation doesn’t disappoint those intentions.
Each track is fairly mindless, cheesy and the perfect time capsule item
for what the early 80’s arena rock scene was.
“Eye of the Tiger” was Survivor’s biggest
hit. The band was asked to write a song for Rocky III.
The movie’s star thought the band had a great sound and wanted them to
do the theme song for the movie. That arrangement went so well that
Survivor was tapped to write the theme song for the sequel, Rocky IV.
Survivor obliged with the track “Burning Heart”, also found on this compilation.
The rest of this album is full of mid-tempo,
keyboard driven, and inspiring love songs. The kind of songs the
DJ would play at your junior high dance. “Eye of the Tiger” is the
most aggressive song in the Survivor catalog. This band specialized
in music to make the girls think the band was a bunch of good guys, which
they probably were.
This album is definitely a good snapshot
of the early eighties. Pictures in the liner notes are good for a
few laughs. Imagine if your accountant and his buddies grew mullets
and started a band, complete with tight pants and sexy guitar-playing faces.
Several songs on this album are very reminiscent
of other songs that are more recognizable. Survivor definitely took
a liking to what Eddie Van Halen was doing with synthesizers. Later
in their career, Survivor turned the amps up and did some pretty good,
rocking songs that you probably have never heard.
The bottom line on this Ultimate Survivor
is, unless you were there in the front row for the ’83 tour, you should
probably save your money.
CD Info
Survivor
– Ultimate Survivor
Label: BMG
Heritage
Rating:
Tracks:
Eye Of The Tiger
Poor Man's Son
I Can't Hold Back
Is This Love
Search Is Over, The
Burning Heart
First Night
Across The Miles
High On You
Man Against The World
Desperate Dreams
American Heartbeat
Caught In The Game
Didn't Know It Was Love
Rebel Girl
Summer Nights
Somewhere In America
Rockin' Into The Night - (previously unreleased) |
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