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| "Seriously dude, you came to the photo shoot...in SHORTS?!"" |
This is no fault of the band's founder, Jim Peterik, who remains one of Chicago's most colorful personalities and greatest musical ambassadors, but who now devotes his musical energies to performing with his first band Ides of March, as well as melodic rock project Pride Of Lions while Survivor's sole original member Frankie Sullivan appears to have put the band to rest, at least momentarily.
While the band's second singer Jimi Jamison passed away in 2014, one can only hope the next time the band regroups, it is with the stellar line-up that took them to the top of the charts in 1982: Vocalist Dave Bickler, guitarists Sullivan and Peterik, bassist Stephen Ellis, and drummer Marc Droubay.
In the meantime, we revisit the band's prime-era catalog and the songs that make them one of Chicago's most successful rock bands ever.
Survivor (1980)
If there is any fault to be found in the band's debut album, it is that it wasn't released two years earlier, at a time when it could have given the likes of Foreigner's Double Vision and Boston's Don't Look Back some stiff competition.
Produced by Ron Nevison (The Babys, UFO, Heart), the album boasts an edgy, guitar-driven sound that puts the emphasis on the many ear-worm hooks to be found.
While "Somewhere In America" and "Can't Getcha Off My Mind" are every bit as jukebox-worthy as "Hot Blooded", the fact that the album was delayed almost a year after label exec John Kalodner nixed Nevison's final mix meant that radio programmers had moved on to more new wave-based fare by the time this album finally saw the light of day.
Those looking for any inklings of the huge chart success to come need only listen to "Youngblood" to hear the band putting together some of the same musical pieces that would be put to much better use on the band's 1982 smash "Eye of The Tiger".
Premonition (1981)
After the experience of seeing their first album taken out of their hands to be remixed by someone who hadn't been involved in the recording process, guitarists Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan decide to produce the album themselves and the results are, in a word, staggering.
From the pulsating album-opener "Chevy Nights", it is unmistakable that this is a leaner, meaner Survivor with a sound tailor-made for modern Top 40 radio playlists.
Of course, before basic tracks were underway, the band updated their rhythm section by adding drummer Marc Droubay and bassist Stephen Ellis. Peterik also took over keyboard duties, bringing an understated elegance to "Summer Nights" and "Light of A Thousand Smiles" that one suspects was a major influence on Jonathan Cain as he moved from the Babys into his new role in Journey.
The album's centerpiece, "Poor Man's Son", would rightfully become the band's first Top 40 hit and get the attention of one Sylvester Stallone, who was in need of a theme song for his third Rocky installment.
Eye of The Tiger (1982)
While obvious emphasis was placed upon the album's title cut, which would quickly race to the top of the U.S. charts, the song's meteoric success ultimately wound up overshadowing everything else on the album.
While "American Heartbeat" went on to be a Top 20 hit in its own right, it would see little airplay after its initial chart run while obvious single contenders like "I'm Not That Man Anymore" and "Hesitation Dance" would go unnoticed.
As producers, Peterik and Sullivan are at the top of their game, aided by a stellar engineering crew that includes Mike Clink (GNR's 'Appetite For Destruction') and Phil Bonnano (Enuff Z'nuff, Cheap Trick, The Kind), giving the proceedings a sonic crunch that holds up to this day when so many other records from the time suffer from period-specific production flourishes.
Peterik's emotive and fluid piano playing on "Ever Since The World Began" should have netted the band their secon-straight #1 smash, but coming off of the huge success of "Tiger", incredulously, it failed to chart, sending the band a very clear message: no power ballads just yet, please.
Caught In The Game (1983)
In hindsight, the title of the band's fourth album winds up being more prophetic than the band could have imagined. Eager to build upon the success of the previous year's gigantic global smash, their best efforts are stymied by a label that continues to underestimate MTV's growing influence over the industry, resulting in an album that fails to live up to commercial expectations.
While the aforementioned title cut is not without its charms, it is "Jackie Don't Go" and power ballad "Ready For The Real Thing" that are the album's standout tracks, yet neither would see release as a single.
Adding further insult to injury, Dave Bickler begins experiencing vocal difficulties and is diagnosed with vocal cord polyps that require surgery and lengthy recuperation.
Vital Signs (1984)
With new singer Jimi Jamison, the band opts for a fresh start by bringing in a new producer. By "new producer" of course, we mean "former producer" Ron Nevison, who is coming off the less-than-platinum success of Rex Smith's Camouflage album.
The band's decision to devote the first half of the album to ballads does irreparable damage to their stature with longtime fans, but new fans coming to the band from seeing "I Can't Hold Back", "High On You" or "The Search Is Over" on MTV couldn't be happier.
Despite their unrelenting stranglehold on MTV and pop radio playlists, the album plateaus at #16, but still goes platinum.
When Seconds Count (1986)
With momentum on their side, it's a shame that everything about their sixth album screams "assembly line"; from the nondescript cover art to, well, the material found within.
Perhaps if the band had tackled such material with the confidence of, say, Premonition, it wouldn't have felt quite so formulaic. Ron Nevison returns, only to be joined in the control room by the band's Frankie Sullivan, but the production isn't the problem here at all.
In fact, Nevison brings the same bombastic sheen to this effort that he brought to Heart's self-titled mega-platinum return-to-form from the year before, but when every song starts to sound like the piano ballad from "St. Elmo's Fire 2: We're Adults Now", well, even David Foster is yawning.
Too Hot To Sleep (1988)
Sharing almost identical album cover artwork with Night Ranger's Man In Motion (released only weeks apart), Survivor's seventh LP is, at the very least, an attempt to return to the commanding rock strut that brought them to national prominence, albeit minus the rhythm section that got them there.
Also M.I.A. is producer Ron Nevison, who is replaced by Frank Filipetti (Carly Simon, Parachute Club, Foreigner), best known as the mixer of such slow-dance favorites as "I Want To Know What Love Is" and "Eternal Flame".
The album opens encouragingly enough with the supercharged rocker "She's A Star", mid-tempo arena rocker "Desperate Dreams", and the thunderous title cut, giving early fans of the band cause to rejoice.
"Didn't Know It Was Love", the album's first single, has all the ingredients to be a smash, just not the radio airplay, yet one can't help think that if Heart had cut the song instead, it would have gone Top 10.
The album's only fully-fledged ballad, and second single, "Across The Miles", still sounds like a hit to these ears, yet it managed only a smattering of adult contemporary airplay before disappearing. How has some up-and-coming "new country" artist not hopped all over that one and taken it straight to #1?
The album inexplicably failed to reach the Top 100 and led the band to take a much-needed break from action.
Life After Scotti Brothers
In 1993, the band reunited with original singer Dave Bickler and toured extensively, giving fans hope that a new album would soon be on the horizon, but Jimi Jamison, who had secured rights to the band's name, intervened with threat of legal action, thereby preventing the band from securing a record deal.
Frankie Sullivan eventually sued Jamison and was able to retain rights to the band's name in 1999, but, by then, Peterik, Droubay, and Ellis, who had participated to varying degrees in the new album sessions, were no longer with the band.
Incredulously, Sullivan reunited with Jamison, at which point this writer threw up his hands in disgust.
In 1999, Dave Bickler came to national attention as the stereotypical arena rock vocalist behind Bud Light's long-running "Real Men Of Genius" (originally "Real American Heroes") ad spots.
If there is any fault to be found in the band's debut album, it is that it wasn't released two years earlier, at a time when it could have given the likes of Foreigner's Double Vision and Boston's Don't Look Back some stiff competition.
Produced by Ron Nevison (The Babys, UFO, Heart), the album boasts an edgy, guitar-driven sound that puts the emphasis on the many ear-worm hooks to be found.
While "Somewhere In America" and "Can't Getcha Off My Mind" are every bit as jukebox-worthy as "Hot Blooded", the fact that the album was delayed almost a year after label exec John Kalodner nixed Nevison's final mix meant that radio programmers had moved on to more new wave-based fare by the time this album finally saw the light of day.
Those looking for any inklings of the huge chart success to come need only listen to "Youngblood" to hear the band putting together some of the same musical pieces that would be put to much better use on the band's 1982 smash "Eye of The Tiger".
Premonition (1981)
After the experience of seeing their first album taken out of their hands to be remixed by someone who hadn't been involved in the recording process, guitarists Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan decide to produce the album themselves and the results are, in a word, staggering.
From the pulsating album-opener "Chevy Nights", it is unmistakable that this is a leaner, meaner Survivor with a sound tailor-made for modern Top 40 radio playlists.
Of course, before basic tracks were underway, the band updated their rhythm section by adding drummer Marc Droubay and bassist Stephen Ellis. Peterik also took over keyboard duties, bringing an understated elegance to "Summer Nights" and "Light of A Thousand Smiles" that one suspects was a major influence on Jonathan Cain as he moved from the Babys into his new role in Journey.
The album's centerpiece, "Poor Man's Son", would rightfully become the band's first Top 40 hit and get the attention of one Sylvester Stallone, who was in need of a theme song for his third Rocky installment.
Eye of The Tiger (1982)
While obvious emphasis was placed upon the album's title cut, which would quickly race to the top of the U.S. charts, the song's meteoric success ultimately wound up overshadowing everything else on the album.
While "American Heartbeat" went on to be a Top 20 hit in its own right, it would see little airplay after its initial chart run while obvious single contenders like "I'm Not That Man Anymore" and "Hesitation Dance" would go unnoticed.
As producers, Peterik and Sullivan are at the top of their game, aided by a stellar engineering crew that includes Mike Clink (GNR's 'Appetite For Destruction') and Phil Bonnano (Enuff Z'nuff, Cheap Trick, The Kind), giving the proceedings a sonic crunch that holds up to this day when so many other records from the time suffer from period-specific production flourishes.
Peterik's emotive and fluid piano playing on "Ever Since The World Began" should have netted the band their secon-straight #1 smash, but coming off of the huge success of "Tiger", incredulously, it failed to chart, sending the band a very clear message: no power ballads just yet, please.
Caught In The Game (1983)
In hindsight, the title of the band's fourth album winds up being more prophetic than the band could have imagined. Eager to build upon the success of the previous year's gigantic global smash, their best efforts are stymied by a label that continues to underestimate MTV's growing influence over the industry, resulting in an album that fails to live up to commercial expectations.
While the aforementioned title cut is not without its charms, it is "Jackie Don't Go" and power ballad "Ready For The Real Thing" that are the album's standout tracks, yet neither would see release as a single.
Adding further insult to injury, Dave Bickler begins experiencing vocal difficulties and is diagnosed with vocal cord polyps that require surgery and lengthy recuperation.
Vital Signs (1984)
With new singer Jimi Jamison, the band opts for a fresh start by bringing in a new producer. By "new producer" of course, we mean "former producer" Ron Nevison, who is coming off the less-than-platinum success of Rex Smith's Camouflage album.
The band's decision to devote the first half of the album to ballads does irreparable damage to their stature with longtime fans, but new fans coming to the band from seeing "I Can't Hold Back", "High On You" or "The Search Is Over" on MTV couldn't be happier.
Despite their unrelenting stranglehold on MTV and pop radio playlists, the album plateaus at #16, but still goes platinum.
When Seconds Count (1986)
With momentum on their side, it's a shame that everything about their sixth album screams "assembly line"; from the nondescript cover art to, well, the material found within.
Perhaps if the band had tackled such material with the confidence of, say, Premonition, it wouldn't have felt quite so formulaic. Ron Nevison returns, only to be joined in the control room by the band's Frankie Sullivan, but the production isn't the problem here at all.
In fact, Nevison brings the same bombastic sheen to this effort that he brought to Heart's self-titled mega-platinum return-to-form from the year before, but when every song starts to sound like the piano ballad from "St. Elmo's Fire 2: We're Adults Now", well, even David Foster is yawning.
Too Hot To Sleep (1988)
Sharing almost identical album cover artwork with Night Ranger's Man In Motion (released only weeks apart), Survivor's seventh LP is, at the very least, an attempt to return to the commanding rock strut that brought them to national prominence, albeit minus the rhythm section that got them there.
The album opens encouragingly enough with the supercharged rocker "She's A Star", mid-tempo arena rocker "Desperate Dreams", and the thunderous title cut, giving early fans of the band cause to rejoice.
"Didn't Know It Was Love", the album's first single, has all the ingredients to be a smash, just not the radio airplay, yet one can't help think that if Heart had cut the song instead, it would have gone Top 10.
The album's only fully-fledged ballad, and second single, "Across The Miles", still sounds like a hit to these ears, yet it managed only a smattering of adult contemporary airplay before disappearing. How has some up-and-coming "new country" artist not hopped all over that one and taken it straight to #1?
The album inexplicably failed to reach the Top 100 and led the band to take a much-needed break from action.
Life After Scotti Brothers
In 1993, the band reunited with original singer Dave Bickler and toured extensively, giving fans hope that a new album would soon be on the horizon, but Jimi Jamison, who had secured rights to the band's name, intervened with threat of legal action, thereby preventing the band from securing a record deal.
Frankie Sullivan eventually sued Jamison and was able to retain rights to the band's name in 1999, but, by then, Peterik, Droubay, and Ellis, who had participated to varying degrees in the new album sessions, were no longer with the band.
Incredulously, Sullivan reunited with Jamison, at which point this writer threw up his hands in disgust.
In 1999, Dave Bickler came to national attention as the stereotypical arena rock vocalist behind Bud Light's long-running "Real Men Of Genius" (originally "Real American Heroes") ad spots.
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chicago's own