STREETHEART – Best Of (2012)

STREETHEART was one of the seminal bands of the Canadian Melodic Rock / AOR movement. Formed by keyboard player Daryl Gutheil and bassist Spider (Ken Sinnaeve), the band gained considerable success at the beginning of the eighties in North America with their albums achieving platinum status.
Streetheart’s career was a 5-year rush, sharing stages with Chilliwack, Styx, Kansas, Aldo Nova, April Wine, Rush and more.

Since the beginning, the motto of the band was wrote commercial catchy tunes with abundance of keyboards, sizzling guitars and the appealing raspy vocals of Kenny Shields.
For starters, Streetheart’s style is similar to Loverboy, not strange as guitarist Paul Dean was part of the band in the earlier days, composing and recording on the 1st disc, and later went solo to found Loverboy.
Several Streetheart singles became an instant FM radio hits, and later many major acts recorded some of the band’s songs, such as Frehley’s Comet and Neal Schon’s ’92 Hardline.
The group is also recognized for their ability to re-arrange and versioning with class other artists tunes, as their unique interpretations of Van Morrison’s “Here Comes the Night” and the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb.”

Strangely, Streetheart’s catalog hasn’t been properly re-issued on CD. There’s a mid-nineties German-only release of their albums, but with a poor sound. In this century there have been a couple of compilations, but mostly covering their first two recordings.
Now, the European label Rdeg / Believe Digital is publishing this “Best Of” covering Streetheart entire career. A treat for the fans, and if you are new to Streetheart surely you’ll enjoy this representative compendium of their fine Melodic Rock music.

01 – Drugstore Dancer
02 – Trouble
03 – Just For You
04 – Under My Thumb
05 – Teenage Rage
06 – Hollywood
07 – Miss Plaza Suite
08 – Tin Soldier
09 – What Kind Of Love Is This
10 – Look In Your Eyes
11 – Action
12 – Snow White
13 – One More Time
14 – Have It Your Way
15 – Without Your Love
16 – Comin’ True

Kenny Shields (lead vocals)
Paul Dean (guitars, vocals)
Matthew Frenette (drums)
Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve (bass, vocals)
Daryl Gutheil (keyboards)
John Hannah (guitar; replaced Dean 1978)
Bob “Herb” Ego (drums; replaced Frenette 1980)
Jeff Neill (guitar; replaced Hannah 1982)
Billy Carmassi (drums; replaced Herb Ego 1983)