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5.0 out of 5 stars I think Peter Cetera is one of the greatest balladeers ever.,
Listening to Glory of Love transports me to another place of joyful, love-filled bliss. It one of the greatest pieces of musical artisitry I’ve ever seen and I could go on and on about this great song. It unbeatable for reaching the heart of a desired one. Next time I fall in Love is also great, as are other songs in this album rendered in that sonorus, inimitable voice that uniquely Peter Cetera. All I need to know is, why is this guy no longer producing smash hits as before?
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Format: lp Album
Country: Germany
Released: 1986
Genre: A.O.R, Pop Rock, Soft Rock, Hi NRG, Synth-pop
Tracklist:
1 Big Mistake 5:39
2 They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To 4:04
3 Glory Of Love (Theme From The Karate Kid Part II) 4:20 Drums – Paul Leim
4 Queen Of The Masquerade Ball 3:50
5 Daddy’s Girl 3:46
6 The Next Time I Fall 3:43 Drums – Chester Thompson Vocals – Amy Grant
7 Wake Up To Love 4:29 Guitar – Ray Parker Jr.
8 Solitude / Solitaire 4:58
9 Only Love Knows Why 4:29 Drums – Paul Leim
Duration 39:30
Personnel: Peter Cetera (vocals, bass); Amy Grant (vocals); Dann Huff from Giant, Ray Parker Jr. (guitar); Michael Omartian (keyboards); Paul Leim, Chester Thompson (drums); Kenny Cetera (percussion, background vocals); Jeff Porcaro from Toto (percussion);
This album is best known for the two #1 singles that define Cetera’s solo career for many people: “Glory Of Love,” the ballad/love theme from The Karate Kid, Part II (co-written with his then-wife & David Foster), and “The Next Time I Fall,” his duet with crossover Christian Pop singer Amy Grant. Had these songs been performed by almost any other mainstream pop singer I probably would have dismissed them, but because of his unmistakable vocals I unabashedly adore them both. I’m sure he made many female listeners believe that he was the man who would fight for their honor, and the next time he fell in love it would, in fact, be with them. Album closer “Only Love Knows Why”is the only other song that fits the mold of the two big hits but, in spite of being another very strong ballad, it was only a minor Adult Contemporary hit. The rest of the album is mostly upbeat rock/pop with the expected synthetic sheen of the era. “Big Mistake” shows off a more aggressive vocal approach that fans of his previous album (as well as Chicago songs like “Stay The Night” & “Along Comes A Woman”) would enjoy, and “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To” is a radio-friendly track which might have been a hit had his fans & record label not been clamoring for more ballads. “Queen Of The Masquerade Ball,” “Daddy’s Girl” and “Wake Up To Love” are all essentially synth-pop songs with repetitive grooves that are elevated by his voice and some catchy melodies. Only the title track falls flat for me. I realize I’m unlikely to convince anyone, especially stubborn rock fans and people who hate ‘80s pop music, that Peter Cetera’s solo material is worth checking out, but if you ever loved his voice during his Chicago years you’ll find a lot to enjoy in his solo discography, and Solitude/Solitaire is a great place to start. Beyond that, I highly recommend his 1992 album World Falling Down, which I believe is one of the greatest post-breakup albums ever released and the pinnacle of his post-Chicago career.
5.0 out of 5 stars quality music,
I grew up listening to this album in my dad car; now that I am 18 I really love this music. It has a certain nostalgia to it and reminds me of the good ole 80 and 90 (which is a nice change from current music). Every song is unique, with a different pace and feel. Peter sings great ballads but also has great energetic songs. My favorites include Daddy girl, They don’t make em like they used to, queen of the masquerade ball, and Next time I fall. Honestly I cannot think of a musician to compare Peter Cetera to because his unique voice and style put him in a category of his own.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Beginning For Cetera Solo Career,
While some people have complained about the production job for this album, I personally find Solitude/Solitaire to be an excellent album, full of ’80 sound effects, insightful lyrics, and beautiful songs. Besides the two #1, “”Glory of Love”” and the excellent duet with Amy Grant “”The Next Time I Fall””, this album is full of hidden gems that any Peter Cetera fan would enjoy greatly. “”Wake Up To Love,”” “”Big Mistake,”” “”They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To,”” and “”Solitude/Solitaire”” are excellent tracks. This is an album you can actually listen straight through without pressing the skip button on your cd player. I only have two of his other albums, so I cannot compare this with his work as a whole, but without a doubt, this album is an excellent beginning to Cetera successful solo career.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Peter SECOND album, intense rock/pop album with two hits!,
Includes the hits “”Glory of Love”” and “”Next Time I Fall””. Other songs include “”Big Mistake””, a very fast, jerky song with lots of electric guitar, it almost sounds angry, much like the title track “”Solitude/Solitaire””, obviously about his departure from the group Chicago. A very upbeat song, “”Wake Up To Love””, is also quick, and Peter voice is very clear despite the instruments involved. Very intense album, passionate in many places. “”Daddy Girl”” is quieter, and describes a little girl who will grow up and leave home, but she’ll “”always be daddy girl””. Very interesting collection of songs, mostly fast, features guitar, synthesizers and keyboards for that definite ‘pop/rock’ feel. Not at all like the group Chicago which he left the previous year, the songs take on their own meaning and have their very own life. A must for those who like special effects in their music combined with guitar!”
The 1984 movie The Karate Kid is a product of its time, and nobody would ever mistake it for anything other than an extremely 1984 movie. But it’s also a film that persistently refuses to get old. The Karate Kid is an expertly-told variation on the Rocky fairy tale — a scrawny little kid, displaced from New Jersey to California, falls for a bully’s girlfriend and gets beat up for it. The old Japanese man who works as super in the kid’s building takes him under his wing, slowly teaching him discipline and self-respect. The kid comes out of nowhere to beat the bully and the bully’s entire sociopathic dojo at a regional karate tournament, and his final triumph feels as mythic as it is unlikely.
John G. Avidsen, director of the original Rocky, made The Karate Kid, and it went on to become a huge hit, one of the biggest movies of 1984. The Karate Kid‘s first sequel did even better. Coming out in the summer of 1986, The Karate Kid, Part II earned $115 million at the domestic box office — $25 million more than the first movie had made. On the year-end 1986 box-office chart, The Karate Kid, Part II comes in at #4, just below Platoon and just above Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. (Weird year.)
Unfortunately, The Karate Kid, Part II pretty much sucked. Avidsen moved the action from California to Japan, half-assedly coming up with narrative reasons for Ralph Macchio’s young Daniel to cross the ocean with Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi. In Japan, they pretty much replay the first movie’s narrative, adding in some orientalist touches that have aged badly and somehow making Daniel into a way-more-irritating character. Cobra Kai, the extremely entertaining Netflix hit that serves as a decades-later Karate Kid sequel, has wisely avoided really acknowledging the existence of The Karate Kit, Part II, focusing instead on the still-fun central conflict of the original movie. Nobody needs to remember Part II.
Part II was a bigger movie with a bigger soundtrack, but it was shittier in every way, soundtrack included. The song that everyone associates with The Karate Kid is “You’re The Best,” the howling anthem sung by former Brooklyn Dreams member and Donna Summer collaborator Joe Esposito. (Esposito later admitted that “You’re The Best” had been rejected from the soundtracks of both Rocky III and Flashdance.) But “You’re The Best” wasn’t a hit in its time. Instead, the hit from The Karate Kid was Bananarama’s immortal new wave classic “Cruel Summer.” (“Cruel Summer” peaked at #9. It’s a 10.)
The Karate Kid, Part II didn’t have anything on the level of “Cruel Summer.” Instead, the big theme from Part II was “Glory Of Love,” the screaming ballad that the former Chicago member Peter Cetera recorded immediately after leaving the band. In grand Karate Kid tradition, “Glory Of Love” was another Rocky-franchise reject. Cetera had submitted “Glory Of Love” for the soundtrack of the 1985 smash Rocky IV, and the producers had rejected it. A few weeks later, “Glory Of Love” found its way to the Karate Kid people and found its home.
Before he made “Glory Of Love,” Cetera had spent 18 years in Chicago, a band that wasn’t supposed to have a frontman. A 23-year-old Cetera had joined the Chicago Transit Authority as singer and bassist in 1967. This was a group where lead-vocal and songwriting duties floated around and where nobody posed for album-cover photos. They were a brand as much as a band, and they were fantastically successful at it, selling tons of records. But eventually, Cetera, with his toothy smile and yowly voice and propensity for power ballads, started to emerge from the mass of the band. When Chicago first hit #1, they did it with “If You Leave Me Now,” a slow-dance song that Cetera wrote and sang. Pretty soon, it became obvious that most of the band’s biggest hits were the Cetera ballads. That didn’t sit too well with the rest of the band.
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