HONEYMOON SUITE: Racing After Midnight LP 1988. “Love Changes Everything”, “Cold Look”, “Love Fever”, “Other Side Of Midnight”, “Lethal Weapon”. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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Description

Honeymoon Suite – Racing After Midnight
Label: WEA
Catalog Number: 255 445-1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Germany
Released: 1988
Genre: Hard Rock, A.O.R, pop Rock

Tracklist:
A1 Lookin’ Out For Number One 3:28
Written-By – D. Grehan*, R. Preuss*
A2 Long Way Back 4:34
Backing Vocals – Michael McDonald
Written-By – D. Grehan*, J. Dee*, M. McDonald*
A3 Cold Look 4:04
Written-By – Billy Steinberg , Tom Kelly  [cover version. the original by i-Ten]
A4 Love Fever 3:30
Written-By – D. Grehan* , J. Dee* , R. Preuss*
A5 Other Side Of Midnight 4:03
Written-By – D. Grehan* , J. Dee*
B1 Love Changes Everything 4:20
Written-By – D. Grehan* , J. Dee* , R. Preuss*
B2 Its Over Now 4:02
Written-By – D. Grehan* , J. Dee*
B3 Fast Company 4:13
Written-By – D. Grehan* , R. Preuss*
B4 Tears On The Page 3:18
Written-By – D. Grehan* , J. Dee*
B5 Lethal Weapon (From The Motion Picture Lethal Weapon) 2:42

Running time 38:30

Bass – Gary Lalonde
Drums – Dave Betts
Guitar – Derry Grehan
Keyboards – Rob Preuss
Lead Vocals – Johnnie Dee
Percussion – Bobby Lakind , Ted Templeman

Recorded and mixed at One On One Studios, North Hollywood, CA., June ’87 to Jan. ’88.
Additional recording at Amigo Studios, North Hollywood, CA.
Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York.

P&© 1988 WEA Music of Canada, Ltd.

Barcode: 22925 54451
Other (Rights Societies): GEMA/BIEM
Other (Label Code): LC 4281

5.0 out of 5 stars Come on, how can you not like this album?, great 80s rock album!
Its true that this 1988 release has a more commercial sound than its predecessors, but not by much. Besides, are we really expecting a ton of substance from Canadian AOR bands? If you want feel good, catchy as hell, arena rock, Racing after Midnight  got it in spades! So what if the album is a pop-oriented, keyboard laced, soundtrack ready (Lethal Weapon anyone?) serving of AOR? Thats what makes these 80s albums so much fun.
Honeymoon Suite, along with fellow Canadians April Wine, Triumph, Loverboy, and later Von Groove and Harem Scarem, could always be counted on to deliver high quality melodic rock albums, and Racing after Midnight is no exception. It may not have stretched the band much artistically, but its still a completely enjoyable album that’s as fun today as it was almost 20 years ago.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Honeymoon Suite album that caught me,
Honeymoon Suite is another band that was known yet unknown. Great songs from “The Big Prize” helped get them radio airplay. I found this album after its release many moons ago and it is a staple on my playlists. The tunes are very catchy and melodic. Great riffs run throughout the album. “Looking Out For Number One” is a nice anthem of sorts.
To me, this is the album that really hooked me into the band. Sadly, this was the album that shot them down and I do not know why. It rocks, if you are into straight ahead rock, check this out. It is worth it.

HONEYMOON SUITE’s 3rd album “Racing After Midnight”. 
This time with lead singer Johnnie Dee involved in the co-writing on most of the songs together with guitarist Dermot Grehan, this record was produced by talented Ted Templeman (Van Halen).

When talking about Canadian Rock acts, Honeymoon Suite definitely rank in the top ten, if not the top five from the land of the Maple Leaf. Their brand of concise and memorable melodic rock went right to the very heart of the charts, heralding a period of intense activity that ended up in multi-Platinum success and pushing international touring schedules that seemed to have no  end. 
But precisely that momentum was what delayed 3 years the recording of this third album “Racing After Midnight”, and subsequently derived in the lower sales compared with the first two blockbusters.
Honeymoon Suite somehow lost too much time to capitalize their success due some logistic troubles.

First of all, the band and the recording label wanted Bruce Fairbairn & Bob Rock as production team again, but at the time Grehan & Co. were ready (after an endlessly tour with Bryan Adams, Heart, ZZ Top and Journey) Fairbairn and Bob Rock were busy with Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet album and they would have had to wait a year to get them available. 
Ted Templeman was chosen and he did a great job behind the desk, not only producing but also playing some instruments and focusing Honeymoon Suite to a more American sound.

But the band should have known this project was cursed when lead singer Dee was struck by a car at LAX airport in December 1987 and suffered multiple breaks to his leg, forcing again a delay in the album release.
Even more; the lead single “Love Changes Everything” (one of the highlights on the LP) failed to chart (whaaat!!!).
Unfortunately, the British rock&pop duo Climie-Fisher had a European hit with the same title (different song) and of course when that hit was released in North America, Honeymoon Suite’s song died a death at radio (which would never chart two different songs with the same title at the same time).

But that’s history – “Racing After Midnight” resulted into another great album from Honeymoon Suite.
Templeman provided a clear Americanized production for the US market with sharper guitars, instant chorus arrangements and a more bouncy rhythm section. In short; more hard rocking as the US taste circa 1988.
Anyway, Honeymoon Suite is one of these bands that never looses its essence, and there’s plenty of AOR moments on “Racing After Midnight”.
The album contains an explosive collection of tracks including the aforementioned gem “Love Changes Everything”, “The Other Side Of Midnight”, the terrific mid-tempo “It’s Over Now”, “Tears On The Page” and the mind-bending cover of “Cold Look”, a track written by AOR kings Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly for their fantastic I-Ten project. 
 “Racing After Midnight” is a must have for any ’80s melodic rock / hard rockin’ AOR fan.

Additional information

Weight 0.25 kg

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