ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 10, 1984
By Steve Newton
If you like the heavy, melodic rock of Def Leppard, but with a more poppy, Loverboy effect, then the debut LP from Eastern Canada’s Honeymoon Suite is well worth checking out.
Although the album starts off weakly–with the plodding, lackluster “New Girl Now”–things change quickly with the sharp-edged “Burning in Love”. This is the sort of tune that sounds ideally suited to today’s commercial rock radio format, with forceful progressions and hooks aplenty.
The next track “Wave Babies”, adds a nice light touch to the album (it’s only one), and again it’s mighty catchy.
Honeymoon Suite also benefits from a very well-mixed sound, as engineers Stephen Taylor (The Fixx, Saga) and David Wittman (Billy Idol, Foreigner) shared the controls. The album was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York and Rupert Hine’s Farmyard Studios in England.
If this debut is any indication, Honeymoon Suite have as good a chance as any to grab a hefty piece of today’s mainstream rock audience. They’ll be trying to win local fans when they play Vancouver sometime early next month.