Boston pop/prog/pomp/hard rock band New England broke into the music business with the 1979 hit "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya" from their self-titled debut album New England. Featuring larger than life hooks, soaring Mellotron, and driving guitars, this four piece band seemed headed for stardom, alongside other similar bands of the era like Journey, Styx, Toto, ELO, Aviary, Ambrosia, Trillion, and Angel. Produced by Mike Stone and Paul Stanley of Kiss, the debut is chock full of strong rockers and progressive tinged explorations, like the dreamy "Shall I Run Away", complete with the melodic vocals of guitarist John Fannon and the lush keyboard work of Jimmy Waldo. Other songs, like the catchy rocker "Alone Tonight" , the symphonic "Nothing to Fear", or the heavy "Shoot", feature just enough touches of metal & prog to soften their otherwise obvious bubblegum tendencies. "The Last Show" is a raging yet melodic rocker that comes across highly sophisticated, sounding a bit like early Magnum, complete with churning guitar riffs, tasty solos, and walls of Hammond & Mellotron. A solid debut that Renaissance Records has thankfully released on CD.
The band's second release, titled Explorer Suite, is a much more polished affair, and perhaps a bit more poppy, yet contains much stronger vocal harmonies than the debut. The opening cut "Honey Money" literally explodes through your speakers with wonderful layers of background vocals, synthesizers, and walls of hard rock guitars. Vocally, the band sounds like a mixture of ELO, The Beatles, and perhaps Queen on this one, and the blistering guitar solo of Fannon really works within the confines of the song. "Livin' in the 80's", another Beatles influenced track with beefy guitars and bubby synths, was the albums FM radio track, and Waldo is all over the symphonic rocker "It's Never Too Late" with his amazing synth textures. Check out his haunting Mellotron work on the atmospheric & majestic title track, a classically- oriented piece that also features some intricate pipe organ lines as well. Fans of good old fashion hard rock will love the kick ass "Seal It With a Kiss", or the galloping Deep Purple influenced "Hey You're On the Run", complete with heavy guitars and rampaging Hammond & synth tones. The most progressive cut is definitely the keyboard drenched "Hope", where Waldo lays down all sorts of synth & organ passages, while Shea and drummer Hirsh Gardner pound away. Fannon also rips perhaps his best guitar solo on the album here, full of passion, fire, and fluid technique.
After one more album, New England called it a day, never really getting the huge break that they were looking for. Jimmy Waldo and bassist Gary Shea eventually went on to join Graham Bonnet and Yngwie Malmsteen in Alcatrazz, enjoying a modest amount of success in that band as well. New England's first two albums though remain solid works of symphonic and commercial hard rock, with more than enough intricate arrangements and lush vocal harmonies to please prog rock fans. Both albums have their strong and weak points, and both are fairly different from each other, but I'll give them both a solid 4 stars and two thumbs up. Recommended.
Track Listing
New England
1) Hello, Hello, Hello (3:36)
2) Don't Ever Wanna Losa Ya (5:22)
3) P.U.N.K. (Puny Undernourished Kid) (3:24)
4) Shall I Run Away (5:10)
5) Alone Tonight (3:35)
6) Nothing to Fear (5:04)
7) Shoot (3:59)
8) Turn Out the Light (3:26)
9) The Last Show (3:50)
10) Encore (3:13)
Explorer Suite
1) Honey Money
2) Livin' in the Eighties
3) Conversation
4) It's Never Too Late
5) Explorer Suite
6) Seal It With a Kiss
7) Hey You're on the Run
8) No Place to Go
9) Searchin'
10) Hope
11) You'll Be Born Again
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