3 Hours Late To The Toronto Party

[Yngve J. Chapleen]

In with a Black & White cover from 1980. (Must keep up with the Jon'ses.)

     If our South neighbors can call some of their bands after metropolis, so do we, people of the North, have a horse in that race. Welcome to TORONTO.

     The cover stirred up some controversy for using a 10 year old deaf/mute girl in a provocative pose and environment. Not pointing fingers, but it was done by Hugh Syme, who is famous for his RUSH covers (someone here probably knows more about him than I do. Perhaps someone using his art as an avatar? Anyone?) The band still insists this image is not what they wanted. It was supposed to be a little girl going through her Mother's dresser, wearing badly applied make up, looking for trouble, but they won't deny that the whole controversy "might" have helped them sell more records. (Did someone say, Guns N' Roses?)

     Due to their female vocal/guitar line-up, many automatically compare them to the Hearts, but honestly, I see more resemblance to Headpins, no small thanks to Brian MacLeod's production.

TORONTO - Lookin' For Trouble

CD ℗ 1980/2000

Female Fronted AOR

Holly Woods (v),

Brian Allen / Sheron Alton (g),

Scott Kreyer (k),

Nicki Costello (b),

Jimmy Fox (d). 

Take note of Holly's four octave voice and I dig the drums, as well. RED titles are once again clickables, but they are not like life or a box of chocolate, because you know exactly what you'll get. The song on YT.

1. Even The Score Heard the song many times before, but never knew who performed it. Always thought it was a solo artist. Their biggest hit from the CD. Amazing guitar licks follow the vocal throughout the song and that "YOU FOOL" break is a nice arrangement touch.

2. You Better Run is the first (and the better) cover tune on the CD, originally performed by Young Rascals. Speaking of better, it is also better than Pat Benatar's version. IMO.

3. 5035 Were they exchanging phone numbers with City Boy? Have no idea, but this sounds a bit like New Wave-ish.

4. Get Your Hands Off Me It's the rawest song on the CD.

5. Do Watcha. Be Watcha Male vocals with a laid back feel to the sound and a church organ providing background tapestry that steps forward on two occasions. The male/female vocal exchange on the chorus works well. Thematically, it puts the opposites sex in the same shoe of the opening title. I wonder if this was a coincident, or two views of the same event?

6. Tie Me Down Another dynamic, west coast tune dominated by syth.

7. Don't Stop Me Doesn't add anything new to the menu, but it fits well with the rest.

8. Lookin' For Trouble The title track with a melodic, catchy chorus.

9. Delirious The masterful delivery of the music evokes the true feeling of the title. One of my favorite tracks on the CD.

10. Shot Down A decent AOR tune with popping keyboards and a smoking, made for the headphones, left and right alternating, guitar solo.

11. Let's Spend The Night Together OK. Starts out very intimate, with candles, but then some schmuck turned the lights on and shouted IT'S PARTY TIME. Oh well. The second cover on the CD puts a spin on the Rolling Stones hit.

Finally getting around to listen to, (for the first time) some music I've been putting aside (for years). Including, things from the past I recently discovered, projects I previously had, but replaced with a newly remastered version, or those simple cases, were my last years order didn't arrive on time.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles come from the authors heart and personal taste which may not necessarily reflect the common sense or the popular sentiment of those who farm music through the path of least resistance i.e. from ears, straight to the brain.

[Scott]

Always wondered about this band, seems they had a couple near hits but nothing that I can recall other than they look familiar.  This album cover isnt the one Im familiar with though I dont know any of their songs, at least I dont think I do....  I will get to this soon as it interests me greatly!

[Scott]

and yes Hugh Syme is very familiar to me, I use his handy work as my profile pic on this page as a matter fact!

[Jon]

I;ve heard of this band but don't recall hearing anything from this band. See that they do have a greatest hits comp, but doing a quick scan I've gotta admit that there's nothing that rings a bell. I do remember the cover of one of their later albums, the one with a credit card. And that's all I can say.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Funny that your review of track 3 mentioned new wave.  I got an immediate Scandal (Patty Smyth) vibe.   Can't say this is really grabbing me, though it isn't hard to listen to.  I liked the Headpins better, for sure.

I didn't care for the male vocal on Do Watcha, Be Watcha.  As a matter of fact, it was a pretty wimpy song all the way around.  Don't get me wrong, I like plenty of wimpy songs.  Tie Me Down isn't particularly good, kind of repetitive in places.  Synth heavy.  Lookin' For Trouble wants to be a bit heavier, and is in spots, but the synths and keys kill any possible momentum built by a pretty hot guitar solo.

She's a pretty good vocalist, she just needed a better band in my opinion.  Not that they are not good players, but they could've used some better songs.

And folks, past and present, stop using children on your album covers...period.