Released by Metal Mind Productions
Release Date: September 11, 2010
Genre: AOR/Melodic Rock
Links: http://www.metalmind.com.pl
Line Up:
David Forbes – Vocals
Randy Gould – Guitar
Andrew Johns – Keyboards
Tom Christiansen – Bass
Randall Stoll – Drums
Mark Holden – Saxophone
Tracklist:
1. Talk To Me
2. Where Is The Love
3. Lead Me On
4. Eye Of The Hurricane
5. Light Of Day
6. Crazy Life
7. Rainy Day In London
8. Where Are You Now
9. Need You Tonight
10. Eye To Eye
What a shame when such bands as Boulevard made such great music in such a short span of time and released some great material only to be drowned in the grunge driven domination in the early 90’s. Such was the case here with “Into The Streets” what many Melodic Rock purists consider a timeless classic in the genre. The boys from Canada started back in the mid 80’s and founded by Mark Holden and David Forbes. They went on to release the their self title debut Blvd which offered your prototypical AOR keyboard and pomp gyrations. They unfortunately only released 2 records and the second one Into The Street once again offered typical 80s kind of keyboard driven, melodic AOR on the highest possible level. Today, this record is one of the rarest items of this music genre.
The infectious arena rock elements of Blvd has no doubt impacted so many bands in the recurrent scene, from such greats like Pride of Lions, Bad English, Dare etc. Every song featured here is easily a classic and deserving of attention spin after spin. The opener “Talk To Me” features an enigmatic upbeat tempo with lead singer David Forbes churning along with the every beat of those addictive keyboards. “Lead Me On” picks up the pace with a memorable vocal performance by Forbes as well as the brilliant chorus, this track here always remind me of similar material from I-Ten another great AOR band. If you think about arena rock bands Boulevard should of had a longer career span then what they eventually ended up having a damn shame too because on tracks like “Crazy Life’ the band certainly shows they can hit it mainstream with extremely catchy radio friendly tunes.
As a big fan of AOR and Melodic Rock in general you already know by the rating that this is a must have masterpiece. Not only was it one of the early gems of the genre, but because of the band’s short life span it is somewhat of a rarity to find. So thanks to the guys over at Metal Mind they have re-released this great piece of music and have remastered the copy thanks to licensing from Universal Music. The sound is sharp and soundly crafted as you can hear those lovely keys and jazzy sounds of the saxophone to one’s pleasure. Better get your copy now because they are only available as a digipack edition and limited to 2000 copies. What a great pleasure it is to retouch base on some truly classic material from Boulevard, I easily ranked this in my top 15 AOR/Melodic Rock list of all time, is up there with such greats as Toto, Asia, Survivor, Signal etc. Not only recommended but essential worth buying!!!. What are you waiting for?
Written by Denys
Ratings Denys 10/10
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